The Silent Witness

Chapter 8: Digging Deeper

Zainab's house had been searched carefully, not destroyed like a random robbery. Whoever came in knew exactly what they were looking for.

"They took the flash drive and Adam's papers," Zainab said, her hands shaking as she spoke to Sarah over video call. "But they didn't touch anything else. My laptop, my jewellery — nothing else was moved."

"A professional job," Sarah said, more to herself than anyone else. "This wasn't Faisal. He's in a cell. Someone else is protecting Richard now."

David looked up from his laptop. "I checked security footage near Zainab's house. A van was parked outside for twenty minutes last night. No plate visible, but I traced its route using traffic cameras. It leads back toward the city — to a warehouse owned by a shell company."

"Let me guess," Sarah said. "Connected to Richard's company?"

"Three levels deep, but yes. Same ownership structure as some of the fake vendor accounts Faisal mentioned."

Sarah felt a small flicker of hope. "Then there might still be copies. Adam was smart. Would he really put everything on one flash drive, with no backup?"

Zainab thought for a moment. "He was always careful. He once told me, 'Never trust just one copy of anything important.' There might be something else — I just don't know where."

"Think, Zainab. Anything he said, anything strange he did in his last weeks. It could matter."

Zainab was quiet, then her eyes widened. "He gave me a book before he died. A birthday gift, he said, though my birthday wasn't for months. I never thought about it again."

"What book?"

"A photography book. About the city's old buildings."

Sarah's heart began to race. "Don't touch it more than you have to. We're coming to get it right now."

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