Chương 6
The login page rejected me before I finished typing the password.
That tiny denial irritated me more than it should have.
I closed the laptop and opened the board portal instead.
Thomas had uploaded a supplemental agenda sometime before dawn.
The Thursday meeting now included three additional items.
Quality reporting controls.
Executive decision review.
Employment action involving a shareholder-affiliated employee.
I stared at the third line.
Shareholder-affiliated employee was technically accurate and emotionally ridiculous.
I called Thomas.
He answered sounding awake in the unnatural way of people who had already been through two meetings before breakfast.
“You saw it.”
“I saw the phrase shareholder-affiliated employee.”
“Grant drafted that.”
“Tell Grant I hate him again.”
“He assumes it.”
“Why not just use my name?”
“Because the agenda goes to administrative staff.”
I understood.
Derek still did not know.
Or at least nobody had formally told him.
“Where are you?”
I asked.
“Office.”
“At Harborstone?”
“No.”
Thomas maintained a small accounting practice forty minutes from the plant, though he spent more time on boards now than on tax returns.
“Grant is coming here at eight.”
“What are you reviewing?”
“Packet drafts, portal logs, executive-office emails that fall within preservation, and the onboarding file.”
“Who is pulling them?”
“Corporate secretary and outside IT.”
“Not Harborstone IT?”
“Not exclusively.”
That was sensible.
It also told me Thomas was taking this much more seriously than he had the night before.
“Any contact from Derek?”
“Three calls.”
“You answer?”
“One.”
“How did that go?”
Thomas sighed.
“He believes you complained to the board after being terminated.”
“That’s not entirely wrong.”
“No.”
“He also believes Carlos was coordinating resistance with you.”
My stomach tightened.
“He called me after the suspension.”
“When?”
“About six thirty.”
“What did you discuss?”
“The Ridgewell hold.”
“Elena.”
“I did not direct him.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because Carlos told me.”
That stopped me.
“You spoke to Carlos?”
“He called me.”
“Why?”
“He wants to challenge the suspension.”
“Through the board?”
“Through anyone who will listen.”
I stood and walked toward the kitchen window.
“Thomas, Carlos should use HR.”
“He says HR attended the suspension.”
“Then he needs counsel if he thinks it was retaliatory.”
“I told him that.”
Outside, a delivery van blocked half the alley while the driver carried boxes into the bakery next door.
“What exactly did he tell you?”
“He said Derek accused him of undermining executive authority by refusing shipment.”
“That tracks.”
“He also said Derek referenced your influence.”
I turned away from the window.
“What does that mean?”
“Carlos said Derek asked whether you had encouraged him to hold the lot.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“What did Carlos say?”
“That the gauges encouraged him.”
Despite everything, I smiled.
“That sounds like Carlos.”
Thomas did not.
“Elena, the temperature inside that plant is rising.”
“I can’t control that from here.”
“No.”
His tone made clear that he considered that statement overdue.
“I want you to stay out of employee communications today.”
“I already told Nina to do her job.”
“That’s fine.”
“Thank you for granting me permission to say obvious things.”
“Elena.”
“I know.”
I sat down.
The edge in my voice was beginning to embarrass me.
Thomas had not fired me.
He had not cropped a chart.
He had not suspended Carlos.
“I’m sorry.”
“Accepted.”
He moved on without ceremony.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Grant found the onboarding acknowledgment.”
My spine straightened.
“And?”
“Derek signed receipt of the governance package.”
“That includes the ownership schedule.”
“Yes.”
A pulse beat hard behind my left eye.
“Then he knew.”
“No.”
I hated that answer immediately.
“He signed receipt.”
“He signed receipt of a folder containing nine documents.”
“So?”
“So proof that he received a document is not proof that he read it.”
“He was becoming CEO.”
“Yes.”
“He was supposed to read it.”
“Yes.”
“Then whether he actually did is his problem.”
“For competence, maybe.”
Thomas paused.
“For intent, no.”
I pressed my fingers against the bridge of my nose.
“Fine.”
“He also opened the capitalization summary.”
I stopped.
“You have the portal log?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two days after he received access.”
“How long?”
“Forty-six seconds.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course.”
“What does that mean?”
“Probably that he skimmed it.”
“Probably.”
“Wrenfield was on the first page.”
“Yes.”
“My name wasn’t.”
“No.”
“So we still don’t know whether he connected Wrenfield to me.”
“Correct.”
I looked at the agenda again.
“Did he open the trust disclosure?”
“That document was not in the board portal.”
“What?”
“It was in the legal diligence folder managed by the search firm.”
“And do we have access records?”
“Not yet.”
There it was.
Another missing piece.
Not a revelation.
A delay.
Real life was full of those.
“What about the chart?”
I asked.
“Still working on that.”
“Thomas.”
“Elena, it’s eight in the morning.”
“I know.”
“You sound like your grandfather.”
“That is not a compliment.”
“It was not intended as one.”
I let out a breath.
“He used to call people before sunrise.”
“He once called me at five sixteen to ask whether depreciation had feelings.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“He was trying to understand why accountants disagreed about useful life.”
I laughed despite myself.
“That sounds exactly like him.”
“For the record, I told him depreciation had no feelings but auditors did.”
For a few seconds, the tension loosened.
Then Thomas said, “I’ll call you when we have something reliable.”
We ended the call.
I poured out the coffee I had forgotten to drink and made another cup.
At eight thirty, Carlos texted.
You busy?
I stared at the message.
Thomas had just asked me not to get involved.
Grant would probably invoice me for merely considering it.
I typed back.
Can’t discuss Harborstone decisions today.
Three dots appeared.
Then:
Wasn’t asking.
A second message followed.
Need the name of the mechanic you used last year.
I stared at the phone and started laughing.
May you like
He wanted the mechanic who had replaced my alternator.
For ten minutes, I had turned every incoming message into evidence.
