Chapter 2 - THE BLACK FOLDER
Julian came home at 1:14 in the morning.
I was sitting in the library.
Not because I had been waiting for him.
Because I knew he would assume I was.
There is a difference.
The first thing he did was slam the door.
The second was stare at me.
“What the hell did you do?”
I closed the book in my lap.
“Good evening to you too.”
“You bought Aurelia.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“I am your husband.”
“An observant one.”
His face darkened.
“Don’t play games.”
I stood.
“No games, Julian. Northstar purchased the controlling stake legally, transparently, and with board approval.”
“You hid it.”
“From you.”
“Why?”
I almost asked whether he really wanted the list.
Instead I said:
“Because negotiations were confidential.”
“That’s bullshit.”
He began pacing.
“You let me stand there like an idiot.”
“No. I let you stand exactly where you chose to stand.”
He stopped.
The memory landed.
Camilla.
The shove.
“Don’t make this about her.”
I stared at him.
“You brought your mistress to your company anniversary party wearing my jewelry.”
His eyes flickered.
“What jewelry?”
“The earrings.”
He knew immediately.
That was almost worse.
“I didn’t give her those.”
“No?”
“No.”
“So she happened to break into my jewelry box?”
“She said they were hers.”
I laughed.
It came out colder than I intended.
“That explanation is insulting even for you.”
He changed direction.
“What is Hale investigating?”
There.
The real reason he had come home furious.
Not our marriage.
Not Camilla.
The folder.
I walked toward the window.
“Vendor payments.”
“Why?”
“Due diligence.”
“You already closed.”
“Exactly.”
He stared.
I turned.
“When Northstar started reviewing Aurelia’s finances, we found twelve vendor contracts created during the expansion crisis.”
“That’s normal.”
“Eight were authorized by you.”
“I’m strategy chief.”
“Three had no competitive bids.”
His jaw tightened.
“Emergency procurement.”
“Two vendors shared an address.”
Silence.
“And one received $2.8 million over fourteen months despite having no employees listed in its state filing.”
Julian looked away.
My heartbeat accelerated.
I had seen fear at the party.
Now I saw calculation.
“How much do you know?” he asked.
It was such a terrible question.
An innocent man asks:
What are you accusing me of?
Julian asked:
How much do you know?
I answered honestly.
“Enough to keep digging.”
He walked toward me.
“You don’t understand corporate procurement.”
“I understand shell companies.”
“They aren’t shell companies.”
“I never said they were.”
He stopped.
Another mistake.
I watched him realize it.
“Tomorrow,” I said, “you, Camilla, Malcolm, Dana, Victor, and I will meet at nine.”
“I’m not attending some interrogation.”
“You are an executive of a company I control.”
His expression changed.
For most of our marriage, Julian had held status over me like a measuring stick.
His title.
His office.
His compensation.
His travel.
His importance.
Now the equation had reversed.
And he hated every second.
“You did this to punish me.”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe buying my company had nothing to do with our marriage?”
“I began negotiating with Aurelia’s lenders before I knew about Camilla.”
He stared.
That was true.
Northstar had first approached Aurelia four months earlier.
I discovered Julian’s affair six weeks after that.
He had not caused the acquisition.
He had merely made keeping it confidential much easier.
“What happens tomorrow?” he asked.
“We ask questions.”
“And if you don’t like my answers?”
“That depends on whether they’re true.”
He left the library without another word.
At nine the next morning, everyone arrived except Camilla.
At 9:07, Dana called her.
No answer.
At 9:11, Julian received a text.
His face changed.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Show me.”
“No.”
Victor leaned back.
“Mr. Vance, if Ms. Price is contacting you about documents relevant to this review—”
“She isn’t.”
Julian’s phone buzzed again.
Dana stood.
“Julian.”
He slammed the phone onto the table.
“I said she isn’t.”
The screen remained lit.
I could read the message from where I sat.
THE DRIVE IS GONE. SAY NOTHING UNTIL I FIND OUT WHO TOOK IT.
Nobody spoke.
Julian snatched up the phone.
Too late.
Dana had seen it.
Victor had seen it.
So had Malcolm.
Dana’s voice became very quiet.
“What drive?”
Julian looked cornered.
“I don’t know.”
Victor opened his black folder.
“The one containing the vendor reconciliation files?”
Julian’s face drained.
That answered our question.
Dana immediately called information security.
Within thirty minutes, we knew an encrypted external drive had been removed from Camilla’s office sometime between midnight and seven that morning.
Security logs showed her badge had entered the executive floor at 2:46 a.m.
Her badge left at 3:18.
Camilla still wasn’t answering.
By eleven, Dana had suspended both Camilla and Julian pending investigation.
Julian exploded.
“You can’t suspend me because she sent me a text!”
“No,” Malcolm said. “We can suspend you because you appear to know what missing records contain.”
Julian turned toward me.
“You’re enjoying this.”
The accusation surprised me.
Not because it was unfair.
Because part of me had expected to enjoy it.
Instead, I felt tired.
“I enjoyed walking onto that stage,” I admitted.
His face hardened.
“But this?” I continued. “No. Eight hundred people work here. If someone stole millions from a company that nearly collapsed, that isn’t marital revenge.”
Victor slid a document toward Julian.
“Do you recognize Mason Bridge Consulting?”
Julian stared at it.
“No.”
Victor slid another.
Julian’s electronic authorization.
$410,000.
Another.
$375,000.
Another.
$520,000.
Every payment approved by Julian.
His voice dropped.
“Camilla handled the vendor package.”
“But you approved the payments,” Victor said.
“She told me they were communications-related crisis vendors.”
Victor opened another section of the folder.
“Mason Bridge Consulting is registered to an address owned by Camilla Price’s brother.”
Julian went still.
I did too.
There it was.
Our first real break.
Julian looked toward the empty chair where Camilla should have been.
For the first time since I discovered the affair, something appeared on his face that looked almost like betrayal.
I wanted to tell him the irony was obscene.
Instead, Dana’s phone rang.
She listened for perhaps twenty seconds.
“Where?”
Her expression sharpened.
“Don’t touch anything.”
She hung up.
Malcolm asked, “What?”
Information security had found the missing drive.
Not in Camilla’s office.
Not in Julian’s.
In the locked cabinet of an unused conference room.
Victor frowned.
“That’s sloppy.”
Dana shook her head.
“No.”
She looked directly at Julian.
“The room was accessed at 3:02 this morning.”
Julian said nothing.
Dana continued.
“Using Audrey’s executive badge.”
Everyone turned toward me.
I hadn’t been anywhere near the building.
My badge had been in my purse.
At home.
May you like
Suddenly the missing drive was no longer just evidence of financial misconduct.
Someone had tried to put my name on its disappearance.
