Chapter 4 - THE TRUCK THAT CARRIED THE EVIDENCE
Billy had watched the same three delivery trucks for nine months.
She knew their schedules better than the hotel manager.
Food arrived at 5:40.
Linen arrived shortly afterward.
Waste processing came last.
But the trucks weren't simply transporting supplies.
They formed a chain of movement Billy had spent months trying to understand.
The next morning, she sat inside an attorney's office with her bandaged hand resting on the table.
Rafe sat opposite her.
He hadn't asked her to return to work.
Instead, he'd arranged medical care and requested an independent review of the wine incident.
Billy appreciated that.
She didn't want favors.
She wanted the truth.
Rafe studied her notebook.
"Every morning?"
She nodded.
"Six days a week."
"You recorded the plate numbers?"
"Yes."
"And the company logos?"
"Yes."
He turned another page.
The notebook contained hundreds of entries.
Dates.
Times.
Drivers.
Unusual stops.
Photographs of shipping labels visible through partially opened truck doors.
Rafe looked up.
"Why?"
Billy hesitated.
Then answered.
"Because Anna discovered merchandise was disappearing from the workshop before she died."
His expression hardened.
"What kind of merchandise?"
"Finished garments. Original patterns. Fabric samples."
Billy pointed toward the notes.
"When Sabine became famous, those items started appearing in her collections."
Rafe leaned forward.
"And you traced them here?"
"Not immediately."
She explained how three subcontractors connected to Sabine's foundation used the Windmir loading dock.
Different names.
Different invoices.
But a shared registered agent.
Rafe's attorney, Elaine Porter, examined the records.
"These are useful leads. We'll need actual company and shipping documents to prove the connections."
Billy nodded.
"I know."
She opened her bag.
Then removed a yellowed envelope.
"My sister found those connections first."
Inside were copies of invoices from four years earlier.
Each carried Anna's handwritten initials.
Rafe studied them.
"Why didn't you show anyone before?"
"We did."
Billy looked down.
"Three attorneys refused our case. A fourth took it, then stopped answering calls."
"And the police?"
"They investigated Anna's death. They never established a connection to the designs."
Rafe closed his eyes.
For a moment, he looked older than his forty years.
Then his phone rang.
His security director was calling.
"Evan?"
Rafe listened.
His expression changed.
"What do you mean they found it?"
Billy's heart pounded.
The truck had been located at a storage facility outside Boston.
The driver was gone.
But several sealed boxes remained inside.
Each box carried a shipping label from Sabine's foundation.
Rafe placed the phone on speaker.
Evan continued.
"There's another problem."
"What?"
"One box contains personal documents."
Billy leaned forward.
"Whose?"
Evan hesitated.
"Anna Ror's."
Billy stopped breathing.
Then came the final revelation.
May you like
"There's a medical report inside."
A report describing injuries Anna suffered three days before the accident that supposedly killed her.
