The women laughed. Callan laughed too. For a few seconds, the operations floor felt like a place where everyone had permission to be human.
As they walked toward the elevators, Vivian asked Callan whether he had eaten. He had not. She suggested the restaurant near the river where she sometimes went after long days. He glanced at his watch, then shook his head.
"Ellie's waiting for me."
"Of course. Another time."
"Maybe," he said.
She did not ask again that evening.
The independent investigation into Blaine's conduct continued while the immediate danger receded. Investigators reviewed version histories, approval records, expense authorizations, archived presentations, meeting notes, and testimony from employees who had never imagined they would be asked what really happened. The findings were not uniform. Some incidents reflected ordinary organizational failure. Some were aggressive judgments that proved wrong. Others were clear misrepresentations of authorship and changes to controls made without the required approval.
Blaine had taken credit for Callan's work in performance submissions and board materials. He had allowed the completion of mandatory training to be recorded when the training had not occurred. He had modified or authorized the modification of risk classifications while telling leadership that the underlying concerns had been resolved. He had also excluded adverse information from a key client presentation after Legal had raised concerns about disclosure.
A separate question arose about incentive compensation linked to those presentations. The board engaged outside counsel to examine whether any bonuses should be recovered and whether certain client communications required additional correction. Vivian insisted that the investigation not be narrowed merely to create a convenient villain.
"We need to know how he was able to do it," she told Edmund. "If we just remove the man and leave the system, we'll eventually hire another version of him."
Edmund studied her. "That's the first thing you've said about this matter that makes me optimistic."
Vivian accepted the remark without asking whether it was intended as praise.
Blaine was given the opportunity to respond through counsel. He argued that strategic leadership necessarily included taking ownership of work generated by subordinates, that deadlines had required flexibility, and that the results had been celebrated by the board for years. His lawyers disputed several characterizations and warned against prejudging his intentions. The investigators considered those responses. They also considered the dated source files, explicit warnings, and audit records showing how particular facts had been removed from presentations.
When the final report arrived, it did not need dramatic language. The evidence was stronger than any insult would have been.
The board voted to terminate Blaine for cause, subject to the terms of his agreement. It also directed counsel to pursue appropriate recovery of compensation tied to inaccurate representations and to make any required disclosures to affected counterparties. No one claimed that firing him erased the board's own responsibility. Edmund signed a separate commitment to review committee oversight practices, including the habit of accepting summaries without examining the underlying records.