Celeste introduced them to a forensic accountant named Naomi Fields and an investigator who specialized in historical property records. They examined the documents without making immediate promises. Naomi noticed that several amounts recorded as community allocations vanished from the operational ledgers after the fire, while later statements showed money being moved through management entities that shared directors with the Vale companies. She requested certified bank records so the transfers could be traced rather than guessed at.
"This is enough to justify asking hard questions," Naomi said. "It's not yet enough to answer every one of them. We need to establish where the money moved, which accounts received it, and who authorized each transfer." Altha gave her a tired but grateful smile. "I've been waiting forty-two years for somebody to ask those questions seriously. You take as much care as you need."
Miriam had her own dangerous meeting that afternoon. Preston summoned her to his office on the executive floor, where a secretary asked her to wait while he finished a call to an investor. She sat in a leather chair that felt too low and stared at an oil portrait of Charles Vale in the hallway. The painted figure looked down with the same controlled confidence his son used when addressing staff.
When Preston finally called her inside, he did not offer a seat until she had closed the door. He began by accusing her of damaging the hotel's image and demanding that she admit the woman in the lobby had been an impostor. Miriam understood immediately that he was testing whether she would obey him publicly. Her rent, her approaching retirement, and the uncertainty of her mother's medical costs made the choice feel cruelly narrow.
"I thought I recognized her from an old photograph," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to disrupt the reception." Preston leaned back, visibly pleased by her hesitation. "Then tell me you were wrong," he said. "Tell me there was no reason to treat that woman as an honored guest."
Miriam forced herself to apologize for interrupting him. She did not say Altha was lying, but Preston accepted the apology as though he had secured a confession. He informed her that the older woman was now to be treated as a banned visitor and that staff had been told she suffered from severe confusion about the hotel's past. Miriam felt sick at the way he used the language of concern to justify cruelty.
While Preston spoke, she noticed an invoice partly exposed beneath a folder on his desk. The letterhead read Blackstone Security Services, and an attached note mentioned replacement hotel credentials for external contractors. She could not establish from a glance whether it related to the men who attacked the storage unit, but the name stayed with her. More importantly, she heard Preston discussing Friday's investor gala and Saturday's sale closing as though the transaction were beyond challenge.