Chapter 7 - HARRISON’S MISTAKE
The backup phone answered that.
Not immediately.
Investigators extracted messages.
Three days before Harrison vanished:
UNKNOWN:
You should stop digging.
HARRISON:
Who is this?
UNKNOWN:
Ask Daniel what happened when he thought he was untouchable.
Harrison sent screenshot to Daniel.
Daniel replied:
Do not use company security.
Then:
I mean it.
Another message:
UNKNOWN:
Northlake will hear you built Voss. Your own approvals are the map.
Then a photo.
Our apartment building.
Ethan and me leaving.
My blood went cold.
Was Victoria behind it?
No evidence yet.
Phone number was prepaid.
Tower data broad.
Could be anyone connected to scheme.
Harrison panicked.
He made his worst decision.
Instead of calling police immediately, he tried to gather enough evidence to prove he was being framed.
He flew to Milwaukee.
Completed the warehouse audit.
Copied records.
Met Daniel secretly in Indiana.
Then rented a car under his real name.
Bad criminal mastermind.
Good frightened employee.
He recorded the USB videos.
Mailed the doll using a company courier account because he believed personal packages might be intercepted?
Why company?
Because he had access and knew next-day internal routing.
Also unauthorized.
Another mistake.
Then he received a photograph of the courier receipt.
Someone was watching the system.
He abandoned his phone.
Moved to a motel.
From there:
Nothing.
Where was he?
The backup phone ended.
Daniel said Harrison planned to contact a federal investigator through an attorney.
Which attorney?
He never made the call.
That worried everyone.
Then a traffic camera found Harrison’s rental car.
Parked at a motel outside Fort Wayne.
Police arrived.
Room empty.
No signs of struggle.
Bed slept in.
Receipt.
Trash.
One note missing? No.
Nothing theatrical.
Manager remembered Harrison leaving with a backpack after a black SUV sat across the road for an hour.
License plate?
Partial.
Could belong to CrownGate fleet.
Investigators checked.
One CrownGate SUV matched color/model and had been in region.
Driver:
Mason Pike.
CrownGate supervisor.
He said he was doing client work.
For whom?
Sterling MedLogix.
Task:
Locate company employee believed to possess stolen records.
Authorized by:
Victoria’s executive assistant under corporate security protocol.
There.
Victoria’s office had hired private security to locate Harrison.
Legal in some contexts.
Harassment depending on conduct.
Not proof of fraud.
But Harrison saw surveillance and ran.
Why not police?
Because company security was tracking him and his own approvals looked terrible.
Still a mistake.
Then a new email arrived at Naomi’s firm.
From Harrison.
One sentence:
Is Sarah safe?
Naomi did not answer herself.
She called investigators.
They coordinated a controlled response through counsel.
Not a movie sting.
A request:
Harrison, contact your attorney. Law enforcement will arrange safe surrender. Sarah and Ethan are safe.
Six hours.
No answer.
Then:
I need to know Victoria cannot reach them.
Naomi replied under investigator direction:
They are safe. You must come in with counsel.
Another four hours.
Then a location.
A public defender? No. Harrison already had company? We found criminal attorney Rebecca Shaw through Naomi.
Harrison appeared at Rebecca Shaw’s office the next morning.
Alive.
Exhausted.
Unshaven.
Terrified.
He surrendered the remaining company records voluntarily.
Investigators did not treat him as a rescued hostage.
He was a potential witness and potential suspect.
Exactly right.
He asked to see me.
I said no.
Not yet.
Because the first question I wanted answered had nothing to do with Victoria.
May you like
It was:
How could you tell our three-year-old to carry your secret?
