Marcus Reed shifted in his chair. Adrian opened a folder, perhaps preparing to dispute the figures, but Frances held up a hand. "We will come to the financial evidence," she said. "First, I want to hear from the employees who reported the problems. None of us should decide their credibility based on the amount of money anyone at this table controls."
Priya Shah was waiting in an adjacent room. When she was invited inside, she walked toward the conference table with a folder clasped in both hands. Her eyes found Daniel. He gave her a small, reassuring nod, then looked away so the board would understand that she was there to speak for herself.
"Tell us what you found," Frances said.
Priya took one breath. "I found that we were paying for services our teams couldn't verify receiving," she began. "And every time I tried to reconcile the accounts, someone told me I was asking the wrong questions."
For the next forty minutes the board heard facts that had never appeared in its quarterly summaries. Priya identified duplicate vendor entries and unexplained approvals. Luis described the equipment replacement requests that had been denied while outside consulting payments continued. An accounts-payable clerk appeared by video and explained why she had questioned a changed bank account number. Nobody made a speech about villains. The testimony was quieter and harder to dismiss than that.
When the witnesses left, Frances turned to Marcus. "Why were these concerns classified as minor administrative matters?"
Marcus looked down at the documents. "The reviews I received indicated they had been reconciled."
"Who sent you those reviews?"
"The legal and procurement teams."
"Did you verify the underlying work was performed?"
"Not personally."
Frances did not raise her voice. "Then tell us who did."
The room held its breath. Marcus stared at a figure on the page in front of him, and for the first time Victoria saw not the polished chief financial officer who could defend any projection, but a man realizing that his assurances might be about to collapse under the weight of the questions he had avoided.
Marcus Reed had spent most of his professional life believing he was the sort of executive who could recognize danger from a balance sheet. He had worked his way through accounting school on the night shift at a hotel, learned to read debt covenants before his friends understood what a mortgage was, and earned Victoria's trust by steering Hale Meridian through an ugly refinancing. He had not set out to become dishonest. He had simply learned to accept answers that made the next quarter easier.
"The contracts were certified by Adrian's department," he said.
"Certified according to what tests?" Frances asked.
Marcus's eyes flickered toward Adrian. "I assumed legal had completed its review."
"That is not an answer to the question."
Victoria watched the exchange with a growing sense of dread. A few months earlier she might have interrupted Frances, worried that the questioning would humiliate a loyal executive. Today she understood that protecting Marcus from an uncomfortable question would also protect whatever damage his shortcuts had allowed. She folded her hands and waited.