Chapter 3 - THE AUDITOR WHO DISAPPEARED
Michael Trent had been Carver Meridian’s director of internal audit.
Careful.
Dull in meetings.
Brilliant with reconciliations.
Emma respected him because he never treated accounting as clerical work.
He used to say:
“Fraud survives when everybody wants the month closed more than they want the truth.”
Eight months earlier, Nicholas announced that Michael had left “for personal reasons.”
No farewell.
No transition meeting.
No LinkedIn update.
People speculated.
Burnout.
Divorce.
Illness.
Then everyone moved on.
David knew more.
Michael had called him at 11:42 p.m. on a Thursday.
“Can you walk me to my car?”
David thought he was nervous about a protest group outside the tower.
Instead Michael carried a manila envelope and kept looking behind him.
He asked David one question:
“If someone used your name to approve security vendors, would you know?”
David laughed at first.
Then Michael showed him an invoice.
Ruiz Protective Services.
David told him it was fake.
Michael went pale.
Three days later, Michael disappeared.
His apartment remained occupied.
Car in the garage.
Wallet gone.
Passport gone.
Police treated him as an adult who left voluntarily.
Carver Meridian said he resigned.
Nicholas produced a signed resignation letter.
David never believed it.
“Did police know about the fake vendor?” Emma asked.
“I told a detective.”
“And?”
“They requested records from Carver.”
Emma already knew what came next.
“Nicholas controlled what they got.”
David nodded.
Emma looked at the ruined financial page.
“So Michael found this first.”
“Yes.”
“And now I found it.”
“Yes.”
“And somebody sent a Lexus at me.”
David’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Emma stepped away.
“I still don’t trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Another surprising answer.
David continued.
“But you should trust the fact that I pulled you out of the road.”
Emma looked at him.
Fair.
Not enough.
But fair.
She asked:
“Why was your name chosen?”
David looked embarrassed.
“Because Nicholas used me for off-book executive errands.”
“What kind?”
“Drivers. Private escorts. Discreet package transfers.”
“Illegal?”
“Not that I knew.”
“That answer worries me.”
“It worries me now too.”
David had signed expense acknowledgments without always seeing final invoices.
His signature was scanned into the security procurement system.
Someone could reuse it.
Someone did.
Emma asked:
“Who had access?”
David said:
“Nicholas. Finance director. General counsel. Procurement.”
Emma almost laughed.
“That’s half the executive floor.”
“Exactly.”
Then his phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LET HER GET HIT.
David stared.
May you like
Emma saw his face.
This time, she believed his fear.
