I spotted it at 10:43 on a Tuesday morning. I know the exact time because I looked straight at the clock the second the document opened on my screen. Certain moments split your life clean in two. This was one of those.
I had already spent three hours buried in Vela Holdings transaction records. The trick was always the same. They picked small, everyday businesses to move their dirty money through. It came in looking like normal client payments and it moved quietly. Nothing stood out unless you knew the ugly truth behind the numbers.
I knew what I was hunting for.
It appeared in the third batch of transfers. A little accounting firm in the eastern part of Silverton. Started twenty-four years ago, but was shut down eleven years ago after regulators spent eight months crawling all over it.
