Chapter 6 - THE BLACK FOLDER WASN'T A PROP
The black folder Daniel carried into the ballroom contained no arrest warrant.
No dramatic indictment.
It contained a conflict memorandum.
His recusal paperwork.
And a notice that Helix’s outside counsel had been informed of an expanded document-preservation request.
Daniel showed Claire after getting clearance to explain his own role.
He had not come to arrest Ryan.
He had come late because a witness interview ran long.
The coincidence made the ballroom look theatrical.
Reality was more bureaucratic.
And more dangerous.
Three weeks later, federal agents executed search warrants at two Helix offices.
Not because of anything Claire said.
Because financial records showed vendor payments flowing to companies connected to hospital administrators.
One vendor name stopped her.
Alder Clinical Advisory.
She knew it.
Amber did too.
Their mother’s cousin, Patricia Alder, had incorporated it years earlier.
Ryan had asked Claire to recommend “a family administrative contact” while they were engaged.
Claire gave him Patricia’s name.
Now that company appeared in a federal fraud investigation.
Claire felt sick.
Had Ryan used her family connections?
Daniel could not answer.
So Claire hired independent counsel.
That was how she discovered something worse.
Her own electronic signature appeared on an early Helix compliance certification.
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Dated two weeks after she had resigned from the consultancy.
She never signed it.
