Chapter 3 - The Interview That Was Never Fair
Alexander arrived at Emily's desk eight minutes after she called.
He read the email twice.
“Don't delete anything.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Who knows you found the altered transactions?”
“Martin saw me.”
Alexander looked toward the elevators.
“Anyone else?”
“I don't know.”
He examined the photograph.
His father.
Daniel Carter.
The case.
Alexander remembered that case.
He had been seventeen when he'd seen it inside Richard's study.
His father had ordered him never to touch it.
Three weeks later, it disappeared.
“Mr. Whitmore?”
Alexander looked up.
“You recognize it.”
He didn't lie.
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“I don't know.”
Emily folded her arms.
“You've asked me to trust you twice.”
“I haven't.”
That surprised her.
Alexander continued.
“I offered you employment. Trust is different.”
“Then let's start now.”
He looked at her.
“My father owned that case.”
Emily's expression changed.
Alexander took the photograph.
“We need to find out who sent this.”
The investigation began quietly.
Alexander restricted access to five people.
Within twenty-four hours, he discovered that Emily's interview had been manipulated before she arrived.
Her résumé score had been manually reduced.
Her skills assessment had been changed.
Her application had been flagged.
Somebody had wanted Emily rejected without ever meeting her.
Vanessa denied involvement.
Martin denied involvement.
HR blamed a software error.
Alexander believed none of them.
Emily, meanwhile, discovered something worse.
She had not been the only Carter.
Searching historical contractor records, she found Daniel's employee number attached to six confidential expense reports.
All involved a subsidiary called Northbridge Logistics.
The subsidiary no longer existed.
The money did.
Millions had moved through it.
Emily printed nothing this time.
She copied account numbers by hand.
At home, Diane saw the notebook.
“What is that?”
“Work.”
“Emily.”
“What aren't you telling me?”
Diane sat down.
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “Your father didn't die because he was careless.”
Emily felt the room tilt.
“What?”
“The police said he lost control.”
“I know.”
“He didn't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he called me twenty minutes before it happened.”
Emily couldn't speak.
“He said he had proof,” Diane continued. “He said people at Whitmore were stealing money and using contractors to hide it.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“Why didn't you tell the police?”
“I did.”
Emily stared.
Diane's eyes filled.
“They told me Daniel was frightened and confused. Then a man came to the house.”
“What man?”
“He said if I kept making accusations, they would investigate your father's finances. They would make him look like the thief.”
Emily's hands began trembling.
“You let me believe Dad fell asleep driving.”
“I wanted you alive.”
The sentence silenced her.
Diane stood and disappeared into her bedroom.
She returned carrying an old sewing box.
From beneath spools of thread, she removed a brass key.
“Your father gave me this.”
Emily took it.
A number was engraved on it.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
The following morning, Emily showed Alexander.
He stared at the number.
“417.”
“You recognize it?”
“Whitmore's original headquarters had private document lockers.”
Emily's pulse quickened.
“What happened to them?”
“Most were removed when the building was renovated.”
“Most?”
Alexander looked toward the elevator.
“Come with me.”
They descended below the lobby.
Basement level one.
Then two.
Alexander used an executive keycard to open an old corridor.
Dust covered the walls.
At the end stood a row of metal lockers.
Emily walked faster.
Then—
Her hand shook as she inserted the key.
It turned.
Alexander stood beside her.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“If your father hid something here, somebody may have spent twelve years looking for it.”
She looked at him.
“Then we'd better find it first.”
She pulled the door.
Inside sat a single envelope.
Her name was written across it.
EMILY.
She reached inside.
May you like
Behind them, the basement elevator chimed.
Someone was coming down.
