Chapter 17 - The Meeting Without a Child
We didn't bring Noah to the board meeting. He spent the afternoon making paper airplanes with Priya's sister while Sonia, Cora, and I walked into a plain conference room above the foundation's offices.
The treasurer, Martin Bell, placed the ledger on the table. Its entries showed payments for repairs that were never performed, followed by transfers approved by Beatrice's office. A forensic accountant hired by the board had flagged the same pattern. Several directors looked sick.
Beatrice arrived with two lawyers. She sat at the far end as if she owned the chairs. "This is a smear campaign led by an unstable family," she said.
Cora stood. "Stop talking about Lena like she was a problem you needed to remove."
"Sit down," Beatrice ordered.
"You told me she was threatening the campaign because she wanted more money," Cora said. "Then you asked me to help bury her complaints. I refused. That's why you pushed me out."
I passed around Lena's dated maintenance requests. Calvin and Darrell had already provided their documents directly to investigators; the board had copies where disclosure was appropriate. The directors could see the same warning repeated over and over: the west stairwell had to open from the inside.
Martin turned to Beatrice. "Did you order security to restrict that door?"
She didn't answer. She looked at her attorney, then at me. "Your sister should have followed instructions," she said.
May you like
The room went still. Cora covered her mouth. Beatrice seemed to realize she'd said too much, but the words were already out.
The board voted to suspend her executive authority and cooperate with the investigation. As we left, Sonia received a call from Ruiz. Prosecutors had obtained another document from the wiped server's archive. It was a signed statement supposedly written by Lena admitting the blocked exit had been her own idea.
