Mariah asked whether anyone had established that money was stolen. Patricia answered that no responsible investigator would make that conclusion from vendor names alone, but several relationships demanded immediate examination. A small group of consulting companies had been paid extraordinary sums for work that no department could fully verify. The corporate registrations were different, yet the companies shared a mailing service and appeared to rely on intermediaries tied to a firm called Northbridge Consulting Solutions. Patricia wanted bank confirmation, beneficial ownership research, and board authorization histories before using stronger language.
"Then that's what we get," Mariah said. "And if someone tries to stop us, document the refusal as carefully as the evidence." Nadine prepared a revised preservation notice addressed to IT, finance, human resources, and outside data custodians. The notice covered raw surveillance files, access logs, executive communications, vendor records, and audit histories. Nobody in the room believed a single letter would force honesty. But every recorded instruction and receipt reduced the room for someone later to claim the information had disappeared by accident.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Talia was summoned to Elliot's office. The invitation arrived through a supervisor's phone rather than the calendar system she could no longer access, and when she reached the thirty-second floor she found David Park standing beside the door. He would not look at her. Inside, Elliot paced beneath a wall of framed awards, his impatience so visible that Talia could almost feel him measuring the seconds until she left his sight. He asked why she had approached Mariah Bellamy and what confidential documents she had provided.
"I spoke to someone who was being treated unfairly," Talia said. "I told her I believed it was part of a pattern. I haven't disclosed patient information or anything outside the scope of my work." Elliot interrupted and accused her of undermining company leadership. She asked whether he was denying the altered performance records and vanished complaints she had described. His answer was to reach for the telephone and ask security to send an escort.
For several seconds, Talia thought she had misunderstood. Elliot announced that her access would be revoked and her employment terminated pending a final review for breach of confidentiality and disruptive behavior. Patricia Bell, who had been summoned as an observer, looked down at a paper form and did not contradict him. Talia asked for a written explanation and her personal belongings. Elliot told her she could collect them under supervision and said that loyal employees did not speak to hostile investors.
By the time she reached the lobby, Talia was carrying a cardboard box containing a framed graduation photograph, a small plant, a mug, and the emergency sweater she kept in the office. Two security guards walked beside her, careful not to touch her but making the public nature of her departure