At 1:15 Daniel found a ledger identifying a series of transportation agreements approved during an earlier network expansion. The contracts had been reorganized after an audit, with original authorization sheets placed in boxes marked Board Approval Originals. The ledger referred to a shelf number no longer visible on the current warehouse map.
He walked the rear aisle slowly, reading faded numbers until he found a section where someone had removed old metal labels and replaced them with adhesive strips. He followed the dates rather than the shelf order. A box near the floor carried a handwritten marker that matched Henry's note.
"Victoria. I think this is it."
She came to him so quickly that dust rose around her shoes. They lifted the box onto a table beneath the work lamp. Daniel photographed the exterior, checked the seal, and opened the lid. Inside were folders tied with cotton tape, several original contracts, and a small envelope bearing the founder's initials.
The first contract named Meridian Auxiliary Transport as a preferred emergency carrier. It included Richard Vail's original wet-ink signature beside a series of provisions permitting extraordinary payment rates with limited oversight. Another document showed that board approval for the contract had been conditional upon disclosure of the vendor's beneficial owners. No such disclosure appeared in the file.
Daniel turned to Victoria. "This explains the payment path. It doesn't explain the missing freight."
"Keep looking," she said.
A second folder contained requests for additional funds after alleged emergency shipments. In each case, the approvals referred to circumstances that nobody had independently verified. Daniel compared the dates with the archived delivery records and found several instances where freight had been billed to a vehicle or route that did not exist in the dispatch system on the stated day.
Then he found an authorization signed in Henry Grant's name. It purported to transfer authority over a reserve transportation fund and approve a revised ownership structure for a vendor holding company. The signature looked close enough to be convincing at a glance. But something about the date made Daniel stop reading.
He checked the document again. Then he checked the cover sheet, the filing stamp, and the ledger entry. Every date pointed to the same month.
"What's wrong?" Victoria asked.
Daniel turned the page toward her. "The authorization was executed three months after your father's death." She stared at the signature. "That can't be right."
"If the dates are accurate, someone used his name after he was gone."
Victoria touched the edge of the paper without lifting it. She had spent six months trying to accept that her father had died suddenly from what the medical report called cardiac failure. He had been under stress, had complained occasionally of tightness in his chest, and had refused to cancel meetings even when his physician urged rest. She had accepted the explanation because grief often makes certainty feel like shelter.