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Chapter 26: A name from the beginning
Author: Bunny
last update2026-10-21 22:25:15

Ines called three days later. Her voice had that tight quality it got when she’d found something and hadn’t decided yet how bad it was.

“I’ve got a name,” she said. “Twenty-six years ago, on the earliest filing we can tie to Cordell Holdings, there’s a co-signer next to Lassiter.”

Thane sat up at the kitchen table. The tiredness pulled back for a second. “Who?”

“Margaret Thorne.” A careful pause. “I recognised it immediately. She’s not some unknown. She’s a sitting judge on the state appellate
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