Part 15: The Savannah Extension
## Part 15: The Savannah Extension
The corporate expansion into the Savannah shipping channel didn't require a public announcement.
By January, the digital networks of Collins International were processing forty thousand container manifests a day from the Georgia ports.
I sat in the secure conference room of our new Savannah terminal, looking out at the gray river where the tugboats were guiding a massive container ship through the morning fog.
Evelyn adjusted her glasses, her laptop screen reflecting two rows of red-flagged accounting entries.
"The forensic audit of the Savannah legal firm—the one that handled Todd's old real estate accounts—has just cleared the compliance block, Amanda," she said.
"They weren't just managing contracts."
"They were operating a secondary, unrecorded escrow fund for your father's old business associates."
"The balance currently sitting in that fund is eight hundred and forty thousand dollars."
I didn't move my hand from my coffee cup.
"The origin of those funds, Evelyn?" I asked.
"The 2023 siphons from the Columbia factory," Evelyn said flatly.
"They didn't spend the money on Rachel’s initiation fees, Amanda; they hid it in Georgia to keep the bankruptcy court from finding the liquid capital during the first audit."
"And the signature on the escrow card?"
"Arthur Collins."
I stood up from the mahogany table, my long wool coat open to the cool air of the room.
"Call the federal magistrate in Savannah, Evelyn," I ordered.
"The corporate fraud indictment has just expanded into a interstate asset concealment conspiracy."
"Seize the escrow fund by noon."
"We’ll use the eight hundred and forty thousand to underwrite the new solar power grid for the Charleston terminal."
Marcus tapped his earpiece, his face turning into that unyielding mask of tactical focus I had trusted for two years.
"Amanda, we have a situational alert at the main gate," he said.
"A rented sedan from the Savannah airport just bypassed the security checkpoint, heading toward the executive parking slots."
"My mother," I said softly, looking out at the gray river.
May you like
"She isn't here to discuss the logistics, Marcus."
"She’s here because the state-subsidized senior facility in North Columbia just received the federal asset recovery notice on her remaining designer clothes."
