Chapter 14 - A Boardroom Full of Smiles
By nine o'clock, I was seated in the Bellwether's executive meeting room with Priya to my right and an independent trustee to my left. I had changed into another ivory jacket. I'd slept less than an hour. Nobody would know that from my voice.
Martin sat across the table beside Edwin Pike, a neatly dressed man who looked at people as though they were numbers on an invoice.
"We're concerned for you, Clara," Pike began. "Your erratic appearance at the hotel last night has caused unnecessary disruption."
"My appearance?" I asked. "You mean arriving for a confirmed reservation with my daughter?"
"Staff reported inappropriate behavior."
I placed a transcript of Patrick's recorded remarks on the table. "This is what inappropriate behavior sounded like."
Martin leaned forward. "Our focus is the company's stability."
"Then you'll welcome an independent audit."
Silence.
Priya distributed a preservation notice and the forensic accountant's preliminary findings. We did not share the complete evidence under police review. We shared enough to show there were credible irregularities and a serious conflict of interest.
"Larkspur received millions for work no one can verify," I said. "Pike controls Larkspur. Martin authorized the contract extensions. And someone reactivated my husband's account."
Pike scoffed. "All allegations."
"Yes. Allegations that need investigation."
A trustee at the far end of the table spoke. "Then I move to suspend all vendors with conflicted ownership pending independent review."
Martin's phone vibrated. He glanced down and went white.
Priya received a message at the same moment. Security had found the original local camera recorder, but the footage contained something unexpected.
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The night Daniel collapsed, someone entered Suite 904 using Martin's key card—eighteen minutes after Martin told us he had already left the building.
Before the vote, I asked the trustees to imagine a guest who could not afford a lawyer or who did not know the chairman of a trust. What recourse would that person have had last night? Martin tried to bring us back to financial governance, but I told him those questions were connected. A business that taught its staff to hide mistakes from guests had also taught them to hide problems from one another. The invoices and the lobby confrontation were not separate stories. They were evidence of a culture in which people with power expected no one to challenge them. One trustee who had barely spoken all morning quietly asked for the names of the staff members fired after raising concerns. Martin said he didn't have a list. Audrey did.
