This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

Detective Sarah Chen had seen enough crime scenes to know when something didn't add up. Standing in the pristine office of Blackstone Financial, she studied the position of Marcus Henley's body with the practiced eye of someone who had spent twelve years working homicide in the city's toughest precincts. The investment banker lay slumped over his mahogany desk, a single bullet wound to the back of his head, but everything else about the scene felt wrong.

"No signs of forced entry," her partner Detective Mike Torres said, consulting his notepad. "Security cameras show Henley entering the building at 9:47 PM last night. No one else came or went after hours except the cleaning crew, and they were already cleared out by 8 PM."

Sarah crouched beside the desk, careful not to disturb the evidence markers that dotted the carpet like yellow confetti. The office was immaculate except for the obvious violence that had occurred here. No overturned furniture, no scattered papers, no indication of a struggle. It was almost as if Henley had simply sat down and waited to be executed.

"What about the safe?" she asked, nodding toward the open vault behind Henley's chair.

"Empty, but according to his assistant, he cleaned it out yesterday afternoon. Took everything to the main vault downstairs for what he called 'security reasons.'"

Sarah frowned. In her experience, people didn't suddenly become security-conscious without reason. "Any idea what spooked him?"

Before Torres could answer, a commotion in the hallway drew their attention. A man in an expensive suit was arguing with the uniformed officer standing guard, his voice carrying the authority of someone accustomed to getting his way.