Chapter 7 - THE REUNION NO ONE EXPECTEDThree weeks after the arrests, the shockwaves through the local financial and legal communities were still palpable. Sterling & Wright had dissolved overnight, federal auditors were combing through thousands of pages of fraudulent tax documents, and Richard and Genesis were sitting in a federal detention center awaiting trial without the possibility of bail.
Jackson had been transferred to a low-security federal holding facility while cooperating with prosecutors, though his cooperation wasn't even strictly necessary anymore—the digital paper trail was watertight.
I had returned to active duty field operations, currently wrapping up a complex embezzlement case involving defense contractors when my secure communications terminal buzzed.
“Priority Message: Inmate Sterling, J. requests a mandatory legal-conjugal disposition meeting regarding final asset distribution signatures.”
I frowned. According to Marcus, all asset signatures had already been legally waived and defaulted to my favor. Why would Jackson be requesting a special disposition meeting?
Curiosity—the primary trait of any good investigator—got the better of me.
Two days later, I found myself walking back into the federal holding facility, though this time I wasn't there as an observer. I was escorted by a corrections officer down a sterile hallway to a private meeting booth.
The glass partition separated us. Jackson sat on the other side, wearing standard prison blues instead of the orange jumpsuit. He looked smaller, frail, his skin chalky, his shoulders permanently caved in.
I sat down, picked up the heavy plastic telephone receiver, and waited for him to do the same.
With trembling fingers, Jackson picked up his phone. He looked through the glass at me, his eyes red-rimmed and hollow.
"Maya," he whispered through the audio feed.
"State your purpose for this meeting, Jackson," I said, my voice deadpan and professional. "My time is budgeted for official casework."
"I... I know," he swallowed hard, a tear finally spilling over his lower eyelid and tracking down his hollow cheek. "I didn't call you here to beg for mercy, Maya. I know there's none left. My parents won't even speak to me anymore. They blame me for telling the feds the truth, and I blame them for destroying my life."
"That sounds like a family matter, not a legal one," I replied coolly.
"It's a confession," Jackson said, his voice breaking. "When I met you... you were the strongest, most brilliant, most incredible woman I had ever seen. You served your country. You saved lives. You built everything you had with your own hands, your own sweat, your own sacrifice."
He looked up, meeting my unblinking gaze.
"And I thought I could break you. I thought because you loved me, you were weak. I thought because you cooked dinner and smiled at my family, you would bow down to their demands." Jackson let out a hollow, tragic laugh. "I was the most arrogant fool on earth."
"You were," I agreed without hesitation.
Jackson closed his eyes for a long moment, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "I signed the final settlement papers this morning. Every last cent in my personal accounts, the hidden trusts my parents set up in my name, everything is transferred to you, or surrendered to the state."
"I know. Marcus sent me the notification."
"Good," Jackson whispered. "You won, Maya. You completely destroyed us."
May you like
"I didn't destroy you, Jackson," I said softly, standing up and hanging up the phone receiver on my side of the glass. "You built a house of cards on a foundation of lies, and you expected everyone else to hold up the roof. Physics and the law caught up with you."
I turned away from the glass, leaving him sitting alone in the quiet booth, a monument to the ultimate cost of underestimating an investigator.
