By the end of the second day, the directors had voted to suspend Grant pending the investigation, temporarily remove Preston's authority over financial reporting, and appoint an independent interim finance officer. The board authorized immediate wage corrections, a prohibition on further certificate-based compensation, and outside oversight of the accounting process. It also directed HR to withdraw Evan's disciplinary suspension while a separate review determined whether the action had been retaliatory.
When Dana called Evan with the news, she did not describe it as a triumph. "The board has directed that your wages be paid in full," she said. "The same calculation is being prepared for everyone affected. There will also be review of interest and any statutory amounts owed."
"And the others?" he asked.
"All of them."
He closed his eyes and let that sentence settle. For the first time since December 22, he felt the beginnings of relief. It did not last long, because Dana's next sentence was that Meridian had paused execution of the supply agreement pending confirmation of Blackridge's corrected financial position.
Evan looked toward Sophie, who sat on the floor assembling the paper bridge for her school project. He was grateful the employees would be paid. He was afraid for the business. Both feelings belonged to him, and he no longer tried to make one cancel out the other.
The contract did not disappear overnight, and that was what made the following weeks so difficult. People expected a dramatic outcome after a dramatic discovery: Grant gone, wages restored, and the company immediately vindicated. Instead there were calls with lawyers, meetings with lenders, requests for documents, and long periods in which nobody could honestly say whether Blackridge would secure the business it needed. Meridian Medical Devices did not announce that the entire $42 million had been lost. It said the contract could not be executed until Blackridge demonstrated that its financial representations and compliance controls were reliable.
That distinction did not make the delay harmless. Meridian's procurement director, Claire Monroe, wrote that her company could not build a five-year supplier relationship on statements that had already been contradicted by Blackridge's own records. She was particularly concerned that the inaccurate payroll treatment had been approved after management received written warnings. Meridian had its own delivery schedules, customers, and regulatory responsibilities. Sympathy for factory workers in Dayton did not absolve its procurement team from checking whether the business supplying it could be trusted.
The regional bank holding a proposed expansion of Blackridge's credit facility responded in much the same way. It paused the approval and requested revised statements, an independent review, and a plan for preventing the problem from recurring. Grant had once described lenders as people who cared only about the bottom line. Evan learned that the bottom line mattered far less once the numbers behind it were disputed.
Corrected payroll took more than one simple deposit. Each affected worker had a different amount, tax withholding had to be recalculated, and the original certificate entries had to be reversed without creating a second reporting error. Outside wage counsel reviewed potential interest, statutory consequences, and agreements with employees. The board insisted that no worker surrender unrelated rights merely to receive earned pay that should have been delivered in December.