And then, she stopped. “Got it,” she said. “Edward Alan Winters. Born August 1997. Father: Alan Frederick Winters. Mother: Fay Darlene Winters.”
She turned the screen toward Kathleen. The entry was clinical and clear.
Kathleen let out a sound, not quite a gasp, not quite a word.
Veronica sat back, blinking as if even she hadn’t expected the puzzle to fall into place so neatly. “Ted’s her son.”
“She must have left him with his father,” Veronica said, “when the marriage ended.”
“But obviously kept in contact,” Kathleen replied bitterly. “Ted—short for Edward. What an idiot I’ve been not to connect the name to the initial.”
Veronica closed the laptop with a soft click. “She recruited him, she used him to steal your work.”
Kathleen set her mug aside with hands that had gone numb. “No.Herecruited her. A mother with money who wasn’t afraid to steal to make more. When I applied for a PhD biology student to assist me in the laboratory, he was the best qualified. When he saw how ground-breaking my research was, he must have concocted the scheme with his mother. Ted was the mastermind behind this theft. He would be the only one to recognize my research was the new energy of the future and would be worth billions.”
They sat in silence as it sank in.
Katherine was the first to speak. “Where do we go from here?”
“I’ll put everything about the auction on a flash drive. In the morning, give it to the Feds and leave it in their hands to take care of Darlene. Then we’ll face Ted in the lab with the police.”
Kathleen nodded. “Together.”
Veronica reached over and laced their fingers. “Yes. Together.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
When Kathleen stepped into 26 Federal Plaza again, the grey stone building seemed less daunting this time. She moved through security without hesitation, flashing her ID, handing over her bag. Her hands didn’t tremble once.
Agent Mike Ramirez was already waiting by the far glass door and offered a brisk nod. “Dr. Knowles. Come this way.”
He led her through the quiet hum of the field office, past cubicles and shut doors. The conference room stood open at the end of the hall. Tamara Singh was already there, seated at the table, sleeves rolled up.
Kathleen sat opposite and reached into her satchel. She placed the flash drive on the table. “This has everything,” she said. “The date, time, and access details for the auction. It’s happening Saturday night.”
Singh looked at her in surprise. “Youhavebeen busy.” She took the drive and plugged it into her terminal. When the screen lit up, she looked over at Kathleen. “You got this from your source?”
“I did.”
“Are they credible?”
“Yes,” Kathleen said firmly. “Very.”
Ramirez moved to the other side of the room, arms crossed, watching the screen.
Singh scrolled through files quickly, eyes narrowing at the names, the routing information, the hashed access keys, the time and place of the auction. “This is… excellent. It’s extremely comprehensive,” she said already making notes. “We’ll verify and escalate. We’ll intercept before it even begins.”
Kathleen leaned forward. “Can you stop it?”
“If this intel checks out today,” Singh said, “we’ll get a warrant, freeze the accounts, and move in. We’ll take Hunt down for attempted sale of stolen intellectual property and conspiracy to traffic proprietary scientific material. She’ll have nowhere to hide.”
Kathleen sat back, relieved. “Then I’ve done my part.”
Singh looked at her. “You’ve done more than that. We’ll take it from here, Dr. Knowles. Stay reachable. When we have news, we’ll call.”
Kathleen stood. “There is one more thing you can do for me. Can Agent Ramirez be at the lab at ten o’clock? The real brains behind the theft works with me.”
Singh glanced at Ramiraz and nodded. “I guess we can arrange that.”
