The next afternoon, Celia Hargrove interviewed Marlene, Mara, Hollis, and several other workers privately. She confirmed the amounts of ordinary wages due, the absence of cash payments, and the promises made at the year-end assembly. She asked each person to describe what was said without guessing at the executives' motives. Their accounts varied in small details, as honest recollections often do, but they agreed on the essential facts: the certificates replaced earned wages, no usable alternative was provided, and objections were dismissed in public.
Dana gave her own account with a copy of the payroll memorandum she had written before the assembly. Celia asked why Dana had not escalated the unresolved issue to the board after senior management refused to address it. Dana did not attempt to excuse herself. She said she had been afraid of losing her job and had told herself that finance's confirmation made the decision defensible.
"Do you still believe that?" Celia asked.
"No," Dana answered. "I knew enough to ask the right questions. I stopped asking because I didn't like the answers I was getting."
Celia made a note. The honesty would not erase Dana's responsibility, but it allowed the investigators to construct the decision-making process without manufacturing certainty where none existed.
The independent board members received an interim briefing on January 8. Blackridge's board chair, Eleanor Ward, had helped finance the company's expansion years earlier and believed the firm was still fundamentally sound. She was a careful listener with a habit of underlining the dates in every document she read. When Celia presented the certificate purchase agreement, Eleanor asked whether Grant or Preston had disclosed the use restriction during the December board update.
The corporate secretary searched the minutes. No such disclosure appeared. The update had referred only to a temporary compensation instrument designed to protect liquidity while retaining staff. It did not mention expiration, the discounted purchase price, or the difference between promotional value and earned wages.
Eleanor requested an immediate independent review of the payroll issue and asked counsel to preserve all relevant communications. Grant objected that the board was reacting to allegations from one disgruntled employee, but Celia pointed out that records already established the payment method and its accounting treatment. Evan's motivation was not the question. The documents existed whether or not he had ever been employed by Blackridge.
The board voted to retain outside wage counsel and forensic accountants. It also ordered management not to retaliate against employees who cooperated with the investigation and directed finance to calculate the amounts required to make workers whole. Grant agreed in the formal minutes. Half an hour later, he returned to his office and asked Preston who had given Evan access to the purchase contract.
Preston said they should be more concerned about the auditors than about the technician. Grant looked at him as though he had become personally disloyal. "You were supposed to make this work," he said.
"I told you in September it could create exposure."
"You were the CFO."
"And you gave me the direction."