Vanessa looked toward the quality screen.
"How many people feel that way?"
Diane gave a small, humorless laugh.
"You should probably ask them."
Vanessa nodded.
"I intend to."
She walked away before trying to defend herself.
At seven thirty, she called Patrick Shaw, human resources director Lydia Monroe, and board audit committee chair Thomas Bell into a closed meeting.
Thomas joined by video from Chicago. He was sixty-four, a retired industrial CFO, and one of the few board members who had challenged Vanessa openly during her first six months.
"You asked for an independent review," he said. "Independent of whom?"
"Operations leadership. Me included."
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"You included?"
"Yes."
Vanessa slid a one-page proposal across the table.
The review would examine twelve months of executive operations reporting and twenty-four months of attribution history on technical improvements, incident resolution, client recoveries, and cost-saving measures. It would compare source records to management summaries and board presentations. It would also review the use of individual names, management credit, and whether floor-level contributions had been systematically removed or reassigned.
Thomas read silently.
"Who leads it?"
"External audit firm with manufacturing controls experience."
"Who do they report to?"
"Audit committee. Not me."
Thomas looked up.
"And Grant?"
"Retained for now. Restricted from modifying historical records or directing anyone involved in the review."
Patrick added, "We've placed preservation holds on email, operations decks, shared drives, and document-history logs."
Thomas leaned back.
"What happened?"
Vanessa could have given him a polished version.
She did not.
"I fired a fifteen-year technician yesterday morning for taking a five-minute water break after he had spent almost ten hours closing a fault that preserved the Carrington lot. I did it publicly before checking the log."
Thomas's expression did not move.
"Why?"
Vanessa looked directly into the camera.
"Because Grant told me a story about who Ethan Cole was months ago, and I kept seeing evidence through that story."
Thomas was silent.
"Carrington's technical annex names Cole as one of four approved calibration verifiers. We almost invalidated the acceptance chain."
Thomas removed his glasses.
"Almost."
"He came back as a consultant. Lot passed."
"So the immediate commercial risk is contained."
"Yes."
"And the governance risk?"
Vanessa took a breath.
"Not contained."
Thomas nodded once.
"Good answer. Proceed with the review. I want weekly updates directly to the audit committee."
After the call, Lydia Monroe remained seated.
"You know this won't stay quiet."