Chapter 8 - WHO WANTED HER AT THE WAREHOUSE
The access logs came from Oliver’s deputy, Grant Vale.
Grant admitted copying the prototype memo.
He said Oliver wanted a controlled anomaly pointing toward Flynn’s off-site activity.
Oliver stood.
“That is a lie.”
Oliver’s face hardened.
“Not by leaking confidential material.”
Grant produced text messages.
O.D.:
Need a traceable anomaly.
Make security see the pattern.
Oliver:
Nothing external. Controlled only.
Not a direct order to leak.
Enough to show he wanted a pretext.
Grant had gone further.
Why?
“Because Mr. Dermit said Flynn was carrying old company material and might be preparing a founder claim. I thought if Ms. Constance caught him stealing, the claim would die before it started.”
Lissa stared.
“So you used me.”
Grant looked ashamed.
Oliver looked furious.
Then Lissa asked the question that mattered.
“How did security know to come to the warehouse that night?”
Grant swallowed.
“I sent the location to Mr. Dermit.”
Oliver finally looked at Lissa.
“I went because I thought Archie had taken restricted records.”
“You saw the folder and tried to grab it.”
“Yes.”
“Because?”
“I recognized Edmund’s old fireproof file.”
There.
Oliver had known what might be inside.
Grant was suspended.
Oliver remained under investigation but not yet removed.
The board resisted.
He still ran core operations.
Removing him during a product launch and housing crisis could create real damage.
Lissa hated that the argument made sense.
So she narrowed his authority.
No security.
No housing.
No records access.
Operations only under dual approval.
Oliver accepted with terrifying calm.
Then Audrey asked to speak with Lissa.
The child sat in a temporary apartment kitchen swinging her feet beneath a chair.
“Uncle Archie says grown-ups only ask kids questions when they forgot to look.”
Lissa smiled despite herself.
“What did we forget?”
Audrey described a man at West Arbor days before the fire.
Blue contractor jacket.
Kneeling beside the electrical cabinet.
Removing a small cover plate.
“Did you see his face?”
She shook her head.
“But he had a silver triangle on his toolbox.”
Metro Facility Group’s logo.
The contractor Oliver’s division hired.
Then Audrey added:
“He said the alarm was stupid.”
Lissa’s smile vanished.
“What alarm?”
“The blinking red one.”
The environmental sensor.
The contractor had physically disabled warning hardware after Oliver approved the software threshold bypass.
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That was more than bad judgment.
It was concealment.
