Chapter 14 - The Audit
The detectives arrived with a warrant and spent the morning copying Peter's office files. They took no family photographs and made no speeches. They photographed cabinets, logged every drive, and asked the staff who had handled the foundation invoices. Richard watched from the library, resisting the urge to turn every pause into an answer.
Elaine sat with the independent auditor and compared Northstar's invoices with the foundation's grant records. The company claimed it had reviewed housing applications, arranged emergency placements, and delivered scholarship assessments. There were no reports, no names of families served, and no contracts with the agencies listed on the bills.
“Some of these addresses are empty lots,” the auditor said. “Others belong to companies registered to Peter's business partners.”
The board held an emergency meeting that afternoon. Richard disclosed the investigation, froze all nonessential payments, and asked an outside director to oversee the audit. A few members complained that the scandal would damage the foundation's reputation. Richard answered that the reputation was already damaged; hiding the truth would only make the damage worse.
By evening, the auditor had traced the final attempted transfer to a company registered in Victoria's name. The bank had stopped it, but the account had been opened with documents copied from Richard's files.
Elaine placed the new report beside Eleanor's old ledger. “We can now show a pattern,” she said. “The records, the login history, and the false guardianship form support one another.”
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Richard looked at the figures and thought of Maya upstairs, practicing how to tell her therapist what had happened without feeling guilty. He had once believed the hardest part of being a father was providing a future. Now he knew the future also depended on protecting the truth in the present.
Then Omar called from the security office. Someone had asked the front desk whether the original gala would still be held—and whether Maya would be photographed.
