She did not answer. Her silence contained the answer David had already known on Saturday. If he had produced a board document, she might have treated him with courtesy at once, perhaps apologized in front of the neighbors, perhaps even brought a welcome basket that afternoon. None of those actions would have changed what she thought of the man before learning the value of his ownership.
"That's the problem," he said. "You don't need to know someone's financial statement to treat them decently."
Clare felt heat rise in her cheeks. It was not simply that David was now revealed to have more financial authority than she had imagined. It was that he seemed determined not to enjoy the discovery, and that refusal denied her the comfort of believing she was the victim of an elaborate revenge. She wanted anger from him, a threat of dismissal, something that would let her tell herself two powerful people had collided and she had lost the contest. Instead, he sat before her looking tired, the same way he had looked when the patrol car pulled away.
"So what happens to me?" she asked.
Thomas straightened a stack of papers. "Your use of executive security will undergo a formal ethics review. You'll be notified of the allegations and given an opportunity to respond. The temporary access suspension remains in place."
"That's the lawyer's answer. I want his answer." She pointed at David. "He controls the company. He can fire me."
"My voting position gives me influence," David said. "It doesn't give me a good reason to make a personnel decision about someone who has a personal dispute with me."
Clare frowned. "You aren't going to decide?"
"No. I'll recuse myself from the decision concerning your employment. Thomas and independent reviewers can handle the process under the policies we agreed to follow. If I've spent this entire week asking people not to treat suspicion as proof, I'd be a hypocrite to declare you guilty of every possible violation without the review."
Sarah added that David would provide records of his encounter and the investigative request only as an affected person. He would not privately instruct the board on Clare's dismissal, dictate what witnesses should say, or take part in any decision where his anger might conflict with the company's obligations. George nodded, relieved that the distinction had been stated aloud. Clare looked from one face to another, seeking an expression she could interpret as secret celebration, but found none.
Rachel shifted her tablet toward Thomas. "There is a broader concern. Clare's request reached the protected profile, but the same security program processed other private investigations without encountering restricted records. I've found seventeen requests in the last three years that require urgent review."
Thomas looked up sharply. "Seventeen?"
"Seventeen with incomplete independent authorization records. Some might be legitimate, but the original requests were approved automatically based on executive status. No separate compliance officer examined the supporting evidence before investigators were assigned."