Chương 6
Rosa shrugged. “One is legal. One is emotional. I’m an accountant.”
By six, the staff had gone home except for Naomi and the finance director, a pale man named Colin Pierce who kept twisting his wedding ring during questioning.
Victoria found him in the pantry eating crackers from a sleeve.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For the crackers?”
He almost smiled. “My stomach gets bad.”
“Mine too.”
She took two crackers. They were stale.
Colin looked toward the hallway. “Am I going to be fired?”
“I don’t know.”
He swallowed hard.
“That wasn’t meant as a threat,” Victoria said.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
She leaned against the counter.
“How long have you worked for Evan?”
“Four years.”
“And the foundation?”
“Nine.”
“So you worked here before he did.”
“Yes.”
“Did the reporting change?”
Colin looked at the open pantry door.
Victoria closed it.
He lowered his voice. “Everything got faster.”
“What does that mean?”
“More programs. More contractors. More events. He hated waiting for approvals.”
“Did he bypass them?”
“Sometimes the board chair approved by phone.”
“Gerald?”
“Usually.”
“Did you document it?”
“I sent follow-up emails.”
“Do you still have them?”
“They’re on the server.”
“Rosa says some archives are missing.”
Colin’s hand stopped at the cracker sleeve.
“Missing?”
“Eighteen months of email backups are incomplete.”
He stared at her. “That’s not possible.”
“Why?”
“We pay for retention.”
“Who administers it?”
He looked down.
Victoria waited.
“Evan’s consultant,” he said.
“What consultant?”
“Mercer Strategic.”
“That’s his company.”
“It’s a management firm.”
“It’s his management firm.”
Colin’s face reddened. “The board approved the contract.”
“Who proposed it?”
He said nothing.
Victoria ate the second cracker.
“Colin, I’m not asking you to be brave. I’m asking you to be accurate.”
He rubbed his thumb along his wedding ring.
“There were invoices,” he said. “Technology consulting, compliance review, donor analytics. Sometimes there wasn’t much documentation.”
“How much?”
“I’d have to check.”
“Estimate.”
“Maybe three hundred thousand over three years.”
“To Evan’s company?”
“Yes.”
“Did you object?”
“I asked for statements of work.”
“And?”
“They appeared.”
“Appeared?”
“They were added later.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked close to tears, which made Victoria impatient. She hated herself for it.
“You signed the payments.”
“I processed them.”
“You signed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Gerald approved them. Because Evan was executive director. Because every time I slowed something down, he called it sabotage.” Colin’s voice rose, then fell. “Because my daughter was born premature and I needed the insurance. Pick one.”
Victoria looked at him.
The pantry refrigerator hummed behind them.
“What is your daughter’s name?” she asked.
He blinked. “Sophie.”
“How old is she?”
“Two.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s loud.”
“That sounds promising.”
His mouth tightened.
Victoria set the empty cracker wrapper on the counter.
“Go home,” she said. “Tomorrow, you give Rosa everything. Not conclusions. Records.”
“Am I protected?”
“I can’t promise that.”
He nodded as though he had expected no other answer.
At the door, he stopped.
“Ms. Hale?”
“Yes?”
“Evan knew you were coming last night.”
“How?”
“He asked me to deactivate your foundation card on Thursday.”
“Why?”
“He said it had been compromised.”
“Did he know where I was staying?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Lauren?”
“I don’t know.”
He opened the door.
“Colin.”
He turned.
“Accuracy,” she said.
He looked ashamed. “Lauren booked your hotel block. She would have known.”
After he left, Victoria remained in the pantry.
She took out her phone and found the clip from the staircase. Lauren’s face filled the screen, beautiful and furious.
You were not invited.
The sentence had already become a slogan. People printed it over photographs of mansions, weddings, boardrooms, and restaurants. A talk-show host repeated it with a laugh. A clothing company posted a picture of an evening gown beside the caption ARE YOU CERTAIN THIS IS YOUR EVENT?
Victoria turned off the phone.
Naomi stood in the doorway holding a stack of folders.
“How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to hear about the hotel.”
Victoria waited.
Naomi placed the folders on the counter. “Lauren requested the reservation cancellation at four twenty yesterday afternoon.”
“You have proof?”
“The hotel emailed me for confirmation because the room had been booked through the gala office. I refused to authorize it.”
“But they canceled anyway.”
“She called the manager.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You arrived at six forty-three. At six forty-five, Lauren confronted you on the staircase. At six forty-six, Mr. Hale began the announcement. There was no useful moment.”
“There were several hours after.”
“You were speaking to donors. Then counsel instructed me not to discuss communications until they were preserved.”
Victoria looked at the folders. “What else did Lauren do?”
“She changed the security list.”
“To remove me?”
“To classify you as a restricted guest.”
Victoria laughed softly.
“What does that mean?”
“It instructed security to notify her if you entered and to wait for her direction before taking action.”
“She planned the confrontation.”
“Yes.”
“Did Evan know?”
“I cannot confirm that.”
“You don’t believe in guessing.”
“I believe guessing is expensive.”
Victoria picked up the top folder. Inside were printed emails, event access lists, payment confirmations, and Naomi’s handwritten timeline.
“Why did you print these?”
“Because Mr. Mercer’s consultant controls the server.”
“You knew?”
“I knew the arrangement was unwise.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“I told Mr. Mercer.”
Victoria looked at her.
Naomi’s face remained composed, but something dry entered her voice.
“He thanked me for my concern.”
“Why do you still work here?”
“The health insurance is excellent.”
Victoria smiled despite herself.
Naomi gathered the folders into a neater stack.
“Also,” she said, “I like the work.”
The next morning, Lauren came to Hale House alone.
Victoria was in the breakfast room wearing black trousers, a cream sweater, and no jewelry. She had slept three hours. A pot of coffee sat untouched beside her while she read a preliminary list of vendors receiving unusually high payments.
Naomi appeared at the door.
May you like
“Lauren Mercer is here.”
“Did she make an appointment?”
