Traces That Make One Dare Not Think Too Deeply
Avery answered the phone, a knot of apprehension tightening in her gut.
Before she could even manage a hello, her lawyer's grim voice cut through the line. "Dr. Hayes, the Sterlings are appealing. They're trying to use the window to apply for medical parole for Bryce."
"Medical parole?" The warmth vanished from Avery's voice, replaced by ice. It only took her a second to connect the dots. *They're just buying time.*
Bryce's conviction was solid; there was no way it would be overturned or his sentence reduced.
But an appeal would keep him in the local detention center instead of getting transferred to a state prison, making it infinitely easier to arrange for a medical release.
The whole appeal was just a smokescreen to get him out.
A cold resolve settled over her, and she made a decision.
"Mr. Goodwin, I need you to take the video from the crime scene to law enforcement and make the case that he's a 'danger to the community.' Once they certify that, he's no longer eligible for medical parole. I also want to petition the District Attorney's office for judicial oversight."
If they could get the hospital incident officially classified as a violent crime, Bryce's threat to society would be on record.
The Sterlings wouldn't be able to touch medical parole after that, no matter what strings they tried to pull behind the scenes.
And with the DA's office supervising the process, there would be no room for them to maneuver.
It was a complicated move, but it was the only way to keep Bryce locked up.
And as long as he was locked up, Caleb would have more time to dig deeper into the family business, investigate why Ronan Bowen went abroad, and maybe even uncover the source of the Sterlings' funding. Both sides were playing for time. It was just a matter of who was one step ahead.
"That's what I was thinking, too," Goodwin agreed. "They applied today, so I'll get the materials together and file for judicial oversight first thing tomorrow."
"I'm counting on you," Avery said, her tone serious.
They chatted for another minute about her upcoming bar exam before ending the call.
The second she hung up, her phone rang again. It was Caleb Sterling, calling with the same update about his family's legal maneuvering, only he had something more.
His voice was low, but it was edged with a thrill he couldn't hide. "Dr. Hayes, you were right. Ronan Bowen went to the Republic of Valora. And I found something else. There's an extra 'ghost car' listed on the manifests for the palm oil shipments he's importing from Latin America."
Avery immediately zeroed in on the key detail. "Are you sure this 'ghost car' is new?" she asked cautiously. "And not something that was already there?"
A "ghost car" was a vehicle that existed off the books, unregistered, disguised, and used for illegal transport. Whatever was on it wouldn't be on the Sterling family's general ledger and might have nothing to do with their legitimate business.
"I'm still looking into it," Caleb said, considering it.
"But I suspect this ghost car might have something to do with my *dear* older brother."
He paused, letting the implication hang in the air.
"Before he was arrested, Bryce was the one in charge of importing raw materials. He traveled abroad constantly. If that car has always been there, his past trips suddenly look a lot more interesting."
He let out a short, sharp laugh. "And if it *hasn't* always been there, then Ronan Bowen is running a side hustle behind my uncle's back."
But Avery's mind was already miles ahead of him.
Shane Croft had told her Ronan might have gone to the Republic of Valora.
And she knew exactly what kind of place that was.
It was a haven for smuggling, drug trafficking, and human trafficking, a place where any black-market industry thrived.
Several Latin American countries produced food-grade palm oil; Guatemala was one of the biggest.
Yet the Sterlings were importing from the Republic of Valora, of all places. There was no way this wasn't shady.
But suspicions weren't evidence. If they were, guys like Ronan Bowen and Xavier Cross wouldn't still be walking free.
Avery frowned, thinking it over for a long moment before asking, "Can you find out what's in that car?"
If she could get hard evidence, she might not have to do anything herself. The federal government would be more than happy to settle her score for her.
Caleb practically choked. "Whoa, hold on. I'd like to live a few more years, thanks. You think I can just go snooping around in there? Ronan is way too careful for that. As soon as the car enters the country, the goods disappear. My guys only found an empty vehicle."
He sounded almost offended. "Don't ask me to do something like that. I'm just trying to figure out if Bryce's old trips had anything to do with that car."
If they did, then whatever was inside, his uncle was finished. It would be smuggling, plain and simple. And once his uncle was proven to be a smuggler, it wouldn't be long before the entire Sterling family was under federal investigation.
Avery scoffed silently. *If it were that easy, you wouldn't just be finding out about this now.
* For someone who'd spent so much time around Bryce, Caleb knew surprisingly little.
If she hadn't pushed him, he never would have stumbled onto this lead.
Now he wanted to investigate a trail that had probably been wiped clean years ago.
If it were that simple, Shane Croft and Wyatt Riggs wouldn't have retired without ever catching them.
Ever since Shane had mentioned the Republic of Valora, Avery had a nagging feeling that he and Wyatt knew more than they were letting on.
They weren't talking, but she was starting to piece things together from their reactions.
The deeper she dug, though, the more she hesitated.
For the past few days, she'd been holding back, analyzing how to make her next move without getting herself killed.
"You investigate on your own for now," Avery instructed in a low voice. "And be careful. Don't go down before your uncle does."
Caleb was her only asset inside the Sterling family who could move without arousing suspicion. If something happened to him, her line of sight into their operations would be cut off.
"Speaking of which," she added, "do you have people you can trust?"
"Yeah, I do," he replied. "Why? You need someone?"
Avery's eyes hardened. "The test reports on Sterling Foods are about to be released. I want you to find someone trustworthy and have them submit the materials anonymously."
Caleb sounded surprised. "Wait, weren't those already leaked online?"
Avery sneered, her voice sharp as a knife.
"A bad story online is nothing to Warren Sterling. He'll just have his PR team make it go away. When your person submits the materials, tell them not to just send them to the Westlake City Market Supervision Administration, that's just the city level.
I want a copy sent to every single department that handles food safety, from the state all the way up to the federal Department of Health."