Chapter 5 - The Man at the Door
Mark told me to take Chloe upstairs.
I refused.
"Not after today."
He opened the door with me standing behind him.
The man outside was thin, gray-haired, and breathing hard. He wore a cheap suit under a rain jacket.
"My name is Alan Pierce."
Mark frowned.
"I know you."
"You should. I audited Bennett Freight five years ago."
Mark's expression sharpened.
"My sister fired you."
"She fired me because I found Alder Ridge."
Alan looked at the paper in Mark's hand.
"That came from the blue drive?"
"Chloe found it."
"You knew she was dangerous?" I asked.
"I knew she was desperate."
Alan stepped inside.
Five years earlier, he had found invoices from a consulting company that did no actual consulting. Payments were approved under Mark's digital signature.
"I brought it to your father first," Alan said. "He told me to keep digging quietly."
"My father knew?"
"He suspected Vanessa was moving money. Then he died."
Mark's hands curled.
"And you said nothing?"
"I tried. Vanessa showed the board emails that made it look like I was extorting the company. I lost my job. My reputation went with it."
"Because Dave Ramirez called me."
"His wife worked in accounts payable at Bennett Freight."
Mark stared.
"Maria Ramirez."
Alan nodded.
"She found the same payments. Vanessa fired her."
Alan continued. "The blue drive is an offline audit copy your father made. If Vanessa has it, she has been looking for it for years."
"Why?"
"Because it can prove who created the shell accounts."
Mark lifted the transfer sheet.
"This already proves enough to investigate."
Alan shook his head.
"No. Those approvals can still be blamed on you."
Alan placed a card on the table. On the back: NEXT MONDAY.
"What is this?" Mark asked.
"The board vote Vanessa scheduled while you were supposedly traveling with Sarah."
"We aren't traveling."
"I know."
He leaned closer.
"She told the board you were taking an emergency leave."
Mark's phone buzzed.
A company email.
SUBJECT: TEMPORARY EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY.
Attached was a document bearing Mark's signature.
May you like
He looked at it once.
Then whispered, "That's a forgery."
