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Back The Counterfeit Candidate
Chapters (61)
  1. Prologue
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty-One
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three
  25. Chapter Twenty-Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty-Six
  28. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  29. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  30. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  31. Chapter Thirty
  32. Chapter Thirty-One
  33. Chapter Thirty-Two
  34. Chapter Thirty-Three
  35. Chapter Thirty-Four
  36. Chapter Thirty-Five
  37. Chapter Thirty-Six
  38. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  39. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  40. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  41. Chapter Forty
  42. Chapter Forty-One
  43. Chapter Forty-Two
  44. Chapter Forty-Three
  45. Chapter Forty-Four
  46. Chapter Forty-Five
  47. Chapter Forty-Six
  48. Chapter Forty-Seven
  49. Chapter Forty-Eight
  50. Chapter Forty-Nine
  51. Chapter Fifty
  52. Chapter Fifty-One
  53. Chapter Fifty-Two
  54. Chapter Fifty-Three
  55. Chapter Fifty-Four
  56. Chapter Fifty-Five
  57. Chapter Fifty-Six
  58. Epilogue
  59. Author’s Note
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. About the Author

Torres had three files cued up on the screen ready to play and he clicked the top one which displayed a time code of 18.05.24. It showed Bianchi walking along the corridor leading to the front entrance of the building and disappearing from view as she entered the ladies’ toilets.

Vargas felt a sudden surge of emotion as he realised he was looking at the woman he had mistaken for Sophia a few days earlier. Even the way she walked was strangely similar but, when he saw her face for the first time, he was massively relieved to discover she shared no real resemblance to his wife after all.

Torres hit the stop button. “So that footage was taken at just after six in the evening. During the following five hours, four other women enter and depart the same washroom but Bianchi is never seen leaving.” He then placed the cursor on the second file, which displayed a time of 23.55.05. “Now, chief, watch this.”

The locked-off shot of the dimly lit empty corridor filled the computer screen once again and, after five seconds, a woman opened the toilet door and appeared in the hallway. She was dressed from head to toe in black, with a balaclava completing the disguise. She turned away from the camera and walked back towards the main office area. The clip froze and Torres lined up the final file.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that the lady in black is Bianchi. This final clip shows her leaving the station just after the fire started.”

The new image covered the door at the rear of the station and the steps leading down into the car park. The figure, dressed in black, was clearly seen walking out through the door and disappearing into the night. Torres closed the laptop and opened a blue file that was sitting on the desk.

“There’s more, chief. We first saw this footage twenty-four hours ago and since then we’ve gained access to Bianchi’s private bank and savings accounts. They make interesting reading.” He took out some loose papers from the file and handed them across to Vargas. “Seems like our HR lady loves a bit of online gambling. The pity is, she’s not very good at it. Over the last two years, she’s racked up huge debts but they are offset every month by incoming payments from a foreign account that we haven’t yet identified. The IT boys are working on it but they think it may be impossible to trace the source.”

Vargas closed the file and nodded. “That’s good work, Juan. Let’s go and have a chat with Señora Bianchi. I have a pretty good idea who her paymaster might be.”