“Yes.”
“You did this.”
“No.”
“Oh, shut up, Evan.”
He laughed.
That was the first time Sophie had heard him laugh about Blackidge in weeks.
The audit grew.
Not because auditors enjoyed punishing companies.
Because one problem touched another.
The Becket certificate accounting affected wage expense.
Wage expense affected quarter-end margins.
Margins affected representations to the bank.
Cash transfers from the retention reserve affected liquidity.
Liquidity affected representations to the Indiana customer.
The certificate block’s expired status raised impairment questions.
The company’s failure to write the asset down earlier opened additional accounting review.
Blackidge had not simply made a bad payroll decision.
It had built several important financial claims on top of numbers that should never have been treated as stable.
The Indiana contract did not vanish.
That would have been cleaner.
Instead, execution was delayed seven months.
During those seven months, Blackidge paid lawyers.
Auditors.
Forensic accountants.
Compliance consultants.
Temporary financial leadership.
The eventual supply contract came back with worse economics.
The customer required a price concession during the first two years.
Blackidge had to fund a performance escrow from working capital.
Reporting obligations became stricter.
The bank eventually approved the credit facility.
At a higher rate.
The state wage claim settled.
Civil costs accumulated.
By late summer, the direct and indirect cost connected to the December program exceeded six million dollars.
Not because twelve certificates in Evan’s envelope were worth millions.
Because leadership had risked millions to avoid paying obligations already owed.
Grant’s separation became final in February.
The board withheld disputed severance pending the forensic review and contractual determinations.
Grant argued that Preston designed the accounting.
Preston responded with emails.
Grant argued the board had demanded improved cash metrics.
The board responded that it had not authorized false or misleading methods.
Grant argued no one told him the certificates had expired.
Leonard Beckett’s records showed the expiration schedule had been included with the original block.
Preston produced a later email attaching the same schedule.