Chapter 10 - PRESTON'S EMAIL
Preston looked as shocked as Audrey.
“I didn’t send it.”
“You were using the iPad.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was waiting for you after the Summit dinner.”
He remembered.
Audrey had stayed late with Brenda.
Preston sat in the client lounge.
His phone battery died.
He used the company iPad to check sports scores and email himself a document.
IT confirmed that.
Then something else.
At 6:49, Preston left the building.
The false email was created at 6:42 but scheduled seven hours later.
Could he have created it?
Yes.
Did he?
No proof.
Then Preston remembered someone entered the lounge.
“Grant.”
Grant frowned.
“I spoke to you for two minutes.”
“Then I went downstairs.”
Security confirmed.
Grant stayed behind.
For twenty-three minutes.
Grant admitted using the iPad.
“To check the Summit portal.”
“Through Rachel’s account?”
“I clicked what was already open.”
Audrey stared.
“Did you send the email?”
“No.”
IT logs showed the draft created while Grant was there.
His attorney stopped the interview.
That made everyone suspicious.
Then forensic analysis found the email draft was created using language copied from the fake transfer document.
Grant’s team had the document.
But so did Brenda.
So did Mason.
Then Grant finally disclosed why his attorney intervened.
He had sent one email from Audrey’s mailbox that evening.
Not the fake transfer email.
A test message to himself.
Why?
He wanted to confirm whether the account still had Summit access.
Unacceptable.
He admitted it.
But timestamp:
6:57.
The false email draft:
6:42.
Before Grant touched the device.
Who was there at 6:42?
Preston.
Again.
Preston became angry.
“I did not write it.”
Audrey believed him emotionally.
But evidence did not care about emotion.
Then security footage showed something nobody noticed.
Preston entered the lounge at 6:31.
At 6:39, someone else stepped inside.
Only an arm visible.
Cream sleeve.
They handed Preston a charger.
Then left.
Who wore cream that night?
Audrey.
Kelly.
Victoria.
Several clients.
Preston stared.
“I remember.”
“Who?”
“Mason.”
Everyone looked at the CFO.
Mason shook his head.
“I wore gray.”
Preston said:
“You changed jackets after the dinner. You spilled wine.”
Mason went still.
Security footage from the lobby confirmed.
Mason wore a cream event jacket later that night.
Audrey looked at him.
“Mason?”
He closed his eyes.
“I didn’t send the email.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I gave Preston the charger.”
“Anything else?”
Silence.
“Mason.”
“I saw the fake transfer draft on the iPad.”
Audrey froze.
“And?”
“I opened it.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought Brenda was trying to dilute you.”
“What did you do?”
Mason swallowed.
“I copied the language into an email draft.”
Everyone stared.
“Why?”
“I was going to send it to you and ask if it was real.”
“From my own account?”
“I realized that after.”
“So you scheduled it to Brenda?”
“No!”
Then who changed the recipient and scheduled send?
Mason had left the draft open.
Someone else altered it later.
The audit showed the modification occurred at 7:18.
By then Preston, Grant, and Mason were all gone.
May you like
Only one executive remained in the building.
Brenda.
