The following afternoon, Superintendent Cho called the burner phone.
The phone vibrated once on the marble table. _Bzzz._ The sound was sharp against the stone. It rattled the glass of water next to it and sent a small ripple across the surface. The plastic case was warm from the sun coming through the windows.
I picked it up. My thumb left a faint print on the screen.
"They cleared me," Cho said, her voice a mixture of profound relief and lingering shock. I could hear her exhale. Long. Shaky. Like she'd been holding it since the audit started. "The IA team audited the vault. The physical inventory matched the ledgers perfectly. They didn't find a single missing dollar. They packed up their briefcases and left an hour ago."
The penthouse was quiet. Only the low hum of the AC. Cool air hit the back of my neck and made the fine hairs stand up. Outside the windows, traffic moved on the Cotai Strip. Distant. Muted by the glass. A constant low sound that never stopped.
