“Cash was bad. We offered bulk corporate certificate blocks. Companies used them as customer incentives. Trade-show giveaways. Loyalty rewards. Employee holiday gifts too, if they were gifts.”
He emphasized the last word.
Evan waited.
Leonard opened an attached PDF.
“There were restrictions.”
He scrolled.
Found a clause.
Turned the laptop.
The language prohibited certificates purchased under the discounted corporate program from being used as substitute compensation, wage satisfaction, payroll settlement, or other discharge of employer wage obligations.
Evan read it slowly.
“Why include that?”
“Our lawyer.”
Leonard’s mouth tightened.
“She said if a company buys a hundred dollars of paper for twenty-eight dollars and then tells an employee that hundred dollars satisfies a hundred dollars in pay, we don’t want our name anywhere near the dispute.”
“Did Blackidge sign this?”
Leonard scrolled.
Electronic acceptance.
Company officer.
Preston Caldwell’s predecessor had signed the original procurement authorization.
Later correspondence showed Preston himself acknowledging the agreement after taking the CFO role.
Leonard looked at Evan.
“How many employees?”
“I don’t know.”
“More than you?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I saw at least forty envelopes.”
Leonard stood.
He walked toward an old printer.
The machine hummed before feeding paper.
He printed the purchase agreement.
Then the issuance record.
Then the expiration schedule.
On the certificate block record, expiration was explicit.
April 30.
No automatic extension.
No obligation to redeem after that date.
Leonard put all three documents into a manila folder.
He wrote BM19-CORP on the tab.
“Take this.”
Evan did not immediately reach for it.
“Can you give this to me?”
“I own the issuer records.”
“Are they confidential?”
“Not from the purchaser as to the holder whose compensation they apparently tried to satisfy with them.”
Leonard pushed the folder toward him.