Chapter 14 - The Signature
I wanted to march into Lauren's office and hold the email against her desk. Leah advised the opposite.
"We authenticate this. We don't surprise her with accusations we can't prove yet."
Owen had brought original emails stored in his company account and copies of invoices. He claimed Lauren directed him to list the Juniper Table as a reference despite knowing we had never used Glasshouse. Whether that amounted to fraud was for lawyers and investigators to determine. It was enough for Harborstone to investigate its bid.
"Why did you go along with it?" I asked.
Owen stared at the tabletop. "Because I wanted a promotion. Because I told myself everybody stretched the truth. Because the first lie was small, and then I couldn't remember where it stopped."
"What about the people working overnight?"
"I complained about the clock-outs. She told me the numbers would be corrected next quarter. I should have pressed harder."
"Yes," Camila said. She had come with Denise and listened from the doorway. "You should have."
Owen did not argue. That, at least, was honest.
He also admitted he'd asked payroll consultant Patrice Grant to export personnel records from a restaurant scheduling system. Patrice had previously been hired by a vendor involved in our software migration and still possessed time-limited access that should have been revoked. Owen claimed he thought the list contained job titles, not home addresses.
"You sent our workers' private information to your boss," I said. "What did you think she would do with it?"
He looked down. "I didn't ask."
Leah made sure every file was copied securely and the access issue was reported. Nobody promised Owen immunity for helping us. Camila watched him leave without saying goodbye.
That evening, Harborstone formally suspended Glasshouse from consideration pending verification. I thought that might finally slow Lauren down.
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Instead, my phone rang from an unfamiliar number. A woman introduced herself as a local reporter.
"Ms. Collins," she said, "Lauren Kessler is about to accuse you of running a coordinated smear campaign against her company. Do you have a response?"
