Chapter 2 - The Approval Code I Never Used
I didn't remember grabbing my coat.
I remembered the elevator taking forever.
I remembered calling Lily's school before the doors opened.
"Riverside Academy."
"This is Naomi Hayes. Lily Hayes's mother. Is Lily there?"
Keyboard clicking.
"One moment."
There are silences mothers should never have to survive.
That was one.
Then the receptionist returned.
"She's in after-school art club."
My knees nearly gave out.
"Please don't release her to anyone except me."
"Of course."
"No. I need you to write it down. Nobody. Not even someone who says I sent them."
Her voice changed.
"Ms. Hayes, is something wrong?"
"Maybe."
I hung up.
Dominic's business card was still in my hand.
I called.
He answered on the second ring.
"Vance."
"Someone sent me a picture of my daughter."
Silence.
"Where are you?"
"Lobby."
"Stay there."
"I'm going to her school."
"Naomi."
The way he said my name stopped me.
Not commanding.
Precise.
"If somebody wanted to scare you away from Apex, the message worked. Don't let the second part work."
"What second part?"
"Making you predictable."
I hated that he had a point.
"I can't just leave her."
"You won't."
He arrived in the lobby less than a minute later.
Garrett was with him.
That surprised me.
Garrett looked irritated.
Dominic looked dangerous only in the sense that a locked vault looked dangerous to a thief.
I showed Dominic the messages.
Garrett leaned closer.
"This is probably spam."
I stared at him.
"Spam has my daughter's school picture?"
"You could've received it from anyone."
"Interesting theory."
Garrett's mouth tightened.
Dominic asked, "Who knew about her school?"
"HR. Insurance paperwork. Emergency contacts."
Garrett said, "Hundreds of employees can access HR."
"No," I said. "They can't."
His eyes flickered.
Tiny.
But I saw it.
Dominic did too.
"Naomi," Dominic said, "go get Lily."
Garrett objected. "She can't leave in the middle of—"
Dominic turned.
"Finish that sentence."
Garrett didn't.
I left.
Lily was safe.
When she ran toward me holding a construction-paper dragon, I hugged her so hard she complained.
"Mom. Ribs."
"Sorry."
"Did you know dragons can have asthma?"
I laughed despite everything.
"Can they?"
"Mine does. That's why his fire is small."
I swallowed hard.
"He's perfect."
That evening Lily stayed with my sister Rachel.
I told her there had been a workplace problem.
Not the whole truth.
The whole truth would've bought me three hundred phone calls.
Then I went home and opened the notebook where I kept strange accounting observations.
I had started it because Vanguard's software was terrible.
Eventually it became something else.
Dates.
Vendor numbers.
Corrections.
Requests Garrett made verbally instead of by email.
At 11:14 p.m., I found March 18.
APEX — exception? Asked G.P. Need written authorization.
Below it:
No response.
I photographed the page.
Then I remembered something else.
My digital token.
Garrett claimed I'd approved remotely.
But our tokens generated rotating security codes.
Using mine required physical possession.
Mine had been inside my locked desk drawer.
Unless someone had opened it.
The next morning, Dominic was waiting outside Vanguard.
"I pulled building access records," he said.
"You can do that?"
"My company manages part of the building's security infrastructure."
Of course it did.
He handed me a printout.
March 18.
I had exited at 4:12 p.m.
Garrett remained until 10:31.
My workstation had authenticated at 9:43.
Transaction approved at 9:47.
Four minutes.
I looked at him.
"Someone used my desk."
"Yes."
"Can we see the camera footage?"
"That's the problem."
"What problem?"
"The footage from your floor is missing."
My stomach sank.
"But the stairwell?"
"Separate system."
"Does it have audio?"
A pause.
"Some of the newer units do."
Garrett's accidental comment returned to me.
Those cameras don't record audio.
How did he know enough to say that?
We entered together.
People noticed.
Of course they noticed.
Dominic Vance walking beside the plus-size accounting specialist Garrett had sent to eat on the stairs was not subtle office gossip.
It was a fireworks display.
Garrett emerged from his office.
"Naomi. Conference room."
Dominic said, "I'll join you."
"This is an HR matter."
"Then invite HR."
Garrett's nostrils flared.
Ten minutes later, I sat across from Garrett with HR director Melissa Grant beside him.
Dominic sat beside me.
Melissa folded her hands.
"Naomi, Garrett says there may have been a misunderstanding yesterday."
"Which part?"
"Regarding your lunch location."
"He told me clients shouldn't watch me eat."
Garrett sighed.
"That's not what I meant."
"What did you mean?"
"I meant the executive area was crowded."
"Then why did you look at my stomach?"
Melissa shifted.
Garrett didn't answer.
I continued.
"He also called me replaceable in front of Mr. Vance."
"Performance discussions can sometimes become uncomfortable."
"Was that a performance discussion?"
Melissa looked at Garrett.
He answered for her.
"Your recent performance has raised concerns."
There it was.
The trap.
"What concerns?"
Garrett slid a folder toward me.
Three written warnings.
I'd never seen any of them.
My name was printed at the bottom.
Electronic acknowledgment.
Dates going back four months.
I felt sick.
"I didn't sign these."
"Our system says you did."
Dominic leaned forward.
"Your system also says she approved $280,000 while sitting in a hospital."
Melissa's face changed.
Clearly, nobody had told her that part.
Garrett snapped, "That's unrelated."
"No," I said. "I think it's exactly related."
I opened the first warning.
Poor attention to detail.
Failure to follow supervisor instructions.
Inappropriate use of restricted systems.
They weren't documenting bad performance.
They were building a reason to blame me.
Dominic saw it too.
"Naomi," he said quietly, "don't sign anything today."
Garrett laughed.
"You're not her attorney."
"No."
Dominic leaned back.
"But I know one."
Melissa ended the meeting.
By noon, my system access had been suspended "pending review."
That gave me time to think.
And when accountants have time to think, people who steal money should become nervous.
I reconstructed Apex from memory.
Quarterly transfers.
Four years.
Amounts varying enough to avoid obvious repetition.
I estimated the total.
At least $6.8 million.
Possibly more.
Then Sarah approached my desk.
She looked terrified.
"Bathroom."
"What?"
"Five minutes."
She walked away.
I waited six.
Then followed.
Sarah stood beside the sinks.
"I saw Garrett at your desk."
"When?"
"March."
My pulse jumped.
"What date?"
"I don't know."
"Think."
She closed her eyes.
"It was the night before my anniversary. March eighteenth."
There it was.
"Why were you here?"
"Month-end cleanup."
"Did you see what he did?"
"No. But he was sitting at your computer."
"Will you tell HR?"
Her face collapsed.
"I can't."
"Sarah—"
"My husband got laid off."
I understood immediately.
Fear had many salaries.
She grabbed my hand.
"But there's something else."
"What?"
"Kyle saw him too."
"Then we have two witnesses."
"No."
Her voice dropped.
"Kyle disappeared this morning."
"Disappeared?"
"He didn't call out. His phone's disconnected. And before he left yesterday, he gave me this."
She pulled a flash drive from her pocket.
"He said if anything happened, give it to you."
I stared at it.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
I took the drive.
The bathroom door opened.
Melissa from HR stepped inside.
Sarah instantly moved away.
"Everything okay?"
"Fine," I said.
Melissa watched us.
Too carefully.
Back at my desk, my phone rang.
Blocked number.
I answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then I heard breathing.
"Kyle?"
A whisper came through.
"Naomi."
I stood.
"Where are you?"
"Don't open the drive at work."
"What's on it?"
He inhaled sharply.
Then I heard a door slam somewhere near him.
"Kyle?"
His voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Garrett isn't the one at the top."
The line crackled.
"Kyle, who is?"
He whispered one name.
May you like
And the call went dead.
"Melissa."
