Chapter 15 - The Last Transfer
Grant reached Meridian before we did.
By the time Brooks obtained a warrant, someone had initiated a $6.4 million transfer from a reserve account tied to Lakeshore's real estate fund.
The transfer was pending.
Priya called the bank.
"We can stop it if we prove the authorization is fraudulent."
"Whose authorization?" I asked.
A digital signature carrying my certificate ID sat at the bottom.
Daniel swore.
"Same credential compromise as the camera deletion."
The bank gave us twenty minutes.
We needed to invalidate the certificate and show when it had been copied.
Ben Mills joined by video from Milwaukee.
He had been monitoring access logs for months.
"Your certificate was exported on August 12," he said.
"From where?"
"Foundation headquarters. Conference room B."
I remembered August 12.
Evelyn had scheduled a governance retreat.
Grant attended lunch.
Peter gave a finance presentation.
I left my laptop in Conference B for eleven minutes while I took a donor call.
Ben pulled the device log.
A USB security token had been connected during that window.
Registered owner: Evelyn Shaw.
The bank froze the transfer with seven minutes remaining.
Then police entered Meridian Legacy's office.
Grant was sitting in a conference room with Evelyn's chief operating officer and a shredding bin full of paper strips.
"You think you won?"
"I think the transfer failed."
"Lakeshore is still bleeding money."
"Not anymore."
"You need donors like me."
"No. We need donors who don't expect to own us."
"Your father understood compromise."
"My father regretted his."
Silence.
Then Grant said something strange.
"Ask Daniel why your father put him in charge of the contingency file."
I looked at my brother.
His face changed.
Grant heard my silence and laughed again.
"There. You still don't know everything."
He hung up.
I turned to Daniel.
"What contingency file?"
He didn't answer fast enough.
"Daniel."
He closed the office door.
"Dad left one more instruction."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"Because it was about you."
He walked to the safe behind his desk.
May you like
Inside was a red envelope.
My name was written across the front.
