"There's more," she said.
She opened her notebook and identified the day Preston had mentioned that the financing might be held for a compliance review. He'd been oddly confident about the possibility before any notice arrived. Diane had thought he was speculating, but the phrasing now bothered her.
"He said the bank might need more time to investigate the fund. Then he smiled and said, 'A pause might be useful to everybody.' I didn't understand how he could be so certain."
Independent counsel asked whether she had heard him contact Charles Morrow. She hadn't. She refused to claim knowledge she didn't possess. That restraint gave her statement more weight.
"Why are you telling us this now?" Susan asked.
Diane's voice shook. "Because every time I said yes to making the story smaller, he demanded something worse. I kept telling myself I was protecting the company. But I was protecting him, and he was making the company less safe with every decision."
Susan nodded. "Thank you for coming forward. The next steps won't be easy."
"I know," Diane said. "I don't expect them to be."
The independent investigators also discovered that Preston's private calendar and phone records, obtained through the company's approved investigation process, showed a call to Charles Morrow shortly before the bank alert was submitted. On their own, phone records proved contact, not the content of the conversation. But when the timing was compared with Charles's messages, the bank's documentation, Diane's account, and Preston's later memorandum, the connection became difficult to explain innocently.
Charles retained counsel and eventually acknowledged that Preston had urged him to raise questions about Ashworth Capital without evidence supporting the allegations. The confirmation was obtained through a formal process, not an offhand confession in a hallway. His account also suggested that Preston had counted on the bank's ordinary caution with large transfers to produce a delay he could exploit.
When Odell received the news from Maya, he did not smile.
"That could have hurt a lot more people than Malik," he said. "If the investment had collapsed, Yarrow's workers would have paid for Preston's attempt to save himself."
Malik looked at the paperwork. "All because he didn't want to admit what happened in the lobby."
"It started there," Odell said. "But the thing that kept it growing was his belief that he could change reality with an order."
By the end of the week, the bank completed its enhanced review and confirmed that the funds satisfied the requirements relevant to the proposed transaction. The hold was lifted by the bank itself, independently of any board vote at Yarrow Industries. Written confirmation went to the transaction parties. The institution continued reviewing the conduct connected to the false risk allegation through its own procedures.
Odell read the confirmation aloud at the kitchen table. For several seconds, Malik didn't move.
"So the money's clear?"
"It's clear for the contemplated transfer, subject to the ordinary closing conditions. The bank isn't relying on that unsupported allegation anymore."
Malik let out a long breath. "Eleven days."