Her heartbeat quickened.
"And he said if anything happened to him, I should look for someone called Evelyn."
Naomi opened her eyes.
"Evelyn who?"
"I don't know."
Neither did Naomi.
But for the first time in six years, there was another witness.
And somewhere, if they could find her, Evelyn might know exactly what Marcus Brooks had died trying to expose.
Finding Evelyn took three days.
Carrington's legal team searched employment records from Halston Capital.
There had been fourteen women named Evelyn employed by the company during the relevant period.
Thirteen were quickly eliminated.
The fourteenth was different.
Evelyn Carter.
Senior compliance analyst.
Employed for eleven years.
Resigned two weeks after Naomi's suspension.
Then disappeared from the financial industry completely.
No LinkedIn profile.
No consulting work.
No professional registrations.
Nothing.
Margaret Chen found a current address in Wisconsin.
"She may refuse to speak," Margaret warned.
Naomi looked at the file.
"I want to ask her myself."
The next morning, Naomi and Margaret drove north.
Evan offered security.
Naomi reluctantly accepted.
They found Evelyn living in a modest house near Milwaukee.
She was sixty-two now.
When Naomi knocked, the woman who opened the door looked at her for only a second before her face changed.
"Naomi Brooks."
Naomi froze.
"You know me."
Evelyn looked toward the vehicle parked outside.
Then back at Naomi.
"I've been waiting six years for this."
Inside, Evelyn made coffee nobody drank.
Her hands trembled as she sat across from Naomi.
"I should have come forward."
Naomi said nothing.
"I've told myself that every day."
"Why didn't you?"
Evelyn looked ashamed.
"Because I was afraid."
Naomi understood fear.
That didn't make the answer painless.
"What did you know?"
Evelyn took a deep breath.
"Richard and Daniel had been moving money for years."
Through shell companies.
Fake consulting contracts.
Inflated acquisition costs.
Money moved out of investment funds, routed through intermediaries, then returned to companies controlled by associates.
Naomi had discovered only a fraction.
"When you raised questions," Evelyn continued, "Daniel panicked."
Naomi remembered that week.
The strange meetings.
The suddenly closed doors.
Executives who stopped making eye contact.
"They needed someone to blame," Evelyn said.
"So they chose me."
"You were young. You had access. You weren't connected to anyone powerful."
The words hurt because they were true.
"How did they use my credentials?"
"Daniel had administrative access."
Naomi closed her eyes.
There it was.
The answer she had waited six years to hear.
"They altered logs," Evelyn continued. "Created authorization records. Changed timestamps."
"And you knew?"
"Not immediately."
"When did you know?"
"The night before you were suspended."
Naomi stared at her.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
Evelyn's eyes filled with tears.
"Because Daniel showed me photographs of my daughter leaving school."
Silence filled the room.
Naomi's anger stopped.
"He threatened your child?"
"He never said the words directly."
Evelyn wiped her eyes.
"He didn't need to."
Naomi suddenly understood why this woman had disappeared.
Evelyn continued.
"Your father found me."
Naomi's breath caught.
"He came to my apartment."
"What did he say?"
"He said he knew you were innocent."
A tear slipped down Naomi's cheek.
"He asked me to testify."
"Did you agree?"
Evelyn looked down.
"Eventually."
"What happened?"
"I arranged to meet him again."
"Two days before he died?"
Evelyn nodded.
Naomi gripped the edge of the table.
"What happened at that meeting?"
"I gave him copies of internal emails."
Naomi leaned forward.
"Where are they?"
"I thought he had them."
"He didn't leave them in the bank box."
Evelyn became pale.
"Then someone took them."
Margaret immediately looked up.
"Who knew about the meeting?"
"Nobody."
Evelyn hesitated.
"Except Daniel."
Naomi stared at her.
"How?"
"He followed me."
The room went silent.
Evelyn explained that after meeting Marcus, she noticed Daniel's car near her apartment.
The following morning, he confronted her at work.
"He told me Marcus was putting his family in danger."
Naomi felt sick.
"And two days later my father died."
Evelyn nodded.
"I panicked."
She resigned.
Moved.
Changed her phone number.
Never returned to finance.
For six years, fear had kept two women silent in different ways.
Naomi reached across the table.
Evelyn looked surprised when Naomi took her hand.
"I'm sorry."
Evelyn began crying.
"No. I'm the one who should apologize."
"They threatened your daughter."
"I still abandoned you."
Naomi thought about those words.
Then she shook her head.
"They did this."
Not Evelyn.
Not Naomi.
The people who had created the fear.