The situation changed again when Mr. Lawson produced the security log and identified a recently altered access record. The officers contacted their supervisor and preserved the scene until investigators could arrive. Richard was detained while they sorted out the attempted removal of the documents and the physical confrontation. After the officers confirmed the circumstances and the existing report, they arrested him on suspicion of offenses connected to the incident at the warehouse; the financial investigation would be handled separately by the appropriate authorities.
Daniel watched the handcuffs go on without satisfaction. He had imagined catching the person responsible for the missing money as a moment of clarity, like finding the broken part of a machine and knowing exactly how to repair it. Instead, he felt tired. The man standing between two officers had worked beside Henry Grant for decades, had shaped the company's operations, and had earned the trust of people who depended on their salaries for survival.
Victoria watched Richard leave. Her expression did not resemble victory either. She had wanted answers about her father, and the warehouse had delivered questions that were sharper and more painful. There was no confession to a killing, no simple explanation for the final weeks of his life, and no easy way to separate the company he had built from the people who had betrayed it.
The officers asked them to remain for formal statements. A forensic accounting investigator from the company's independent audit firm arrived with counsel and began cataloging the originals. The flash drive and the paper records were secured for further examination, and the archive manager's access logs were preserved. Daniel submitted his recording and asked that the original file remain intact on his device until investigators advised otherwise.
By the time they were permitted to leave, the light outside had begun to soften into evening. Victoria stood beside her car looking at the sky, apparently unaware of how long she had been motionless. Daniel approached slowly, stopping far enough away to give her room.
"Do you have someone who can stay with you tonight?" he asked.
"My sister. Naomi said she'd come over."
"Good."
Victoria turned toward him. "I accused him of killing my father."
"You were frightened and angry."
"I was certain. For a moment I was completely certain."
Daniel nodded. "Then the investigation needs to find out whether your certainty was right. We can't make it true because it would explain the pain." She looked at him with exhausted gratitude. "How do you always manage to say the thing I least want to hear?"
"Practice," he answered. "I have a daughter who asks honest questions every day."
For the first time in hours, Victoria smiled. It was brief and unguarded, and Daniel felt something shift between them that neither of them was ready to name. He reminded her to call Naomi, then got into his car and drove toward a kitchen table where a nine-year-old would want to know why he had missed dinner.