Chapter 12 - The Family Secret
The revelation fractured the uneasy peace Marcus and I had built during the investigation. For three days, he barely spoke to me, torn between his badge and the agonizing reality of his older brother’s crimes.
On the fourth morning, Marcus dropped a heavy manila folder onto my desk.
"Julian reached out," Marcus said, his voice raw and exhausted. "He’s in Montreal. He knows we decrypted the offshore ledger, and he’s planning to liquidate the remaining assets and vanish into South America by the end of the week."
"Why tell me this?" I asked, looking up. "Why not handle it yourself?"
"Because if I go after him alone, Internal Affairs will think I'm running interference to protect my blood," Marcus said firmly. "I need a federal warrant, and I need you to build the financial case that leaves him nowhere to run."
We spent the next forty-eight hours locked in my office, piecing together wire transcripts, shell corporation proxies, and encrypted communication logs. We discovered that Julian hadn't just stolen state funds—he was actively laundering money for an international syndicate known as The Meridian Group, using senior healthcare facilities across the Midwest as front operations to absorb illicit capital.
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By Friday afternoon, we had secured an emergency federal arrest warrant and an international red notice through Interpol.
"Montreal is cold this time of year," I said, handing Marcus the final forensic report. "Let's go bring him home."
