Part 4
Evelyn’s notes covered nearly nine months.
At first they seemed random.
A refrigeration invoice.
A clinic grant.
A warehouse lease.
A scholarship account.
Then Katherine began arranging copies by date.
The pattern emerged.
Foundation money was being transferred to legitimate vendors.
The vendors were paid.
Then partial refunds were issued to secondary companies for “undelivered goods,” “adjusted quantities,” or “contract modifications.”
Those refunds disappeared.
Most flowed into companies indirectly controlled by Simon Rusk.
But the amounts were strange.
Too large to be clerical errors.
Too small to matter to the Vale organization as a whole.
“Why steal from the charity?” Dominic asked.
Katherine answered.
“Because no one was watching it closely.”
I looked at the table.
That was true.
After Evelyn died, I had kept funding the foundation because stopping felt like another death.
But I had not attended board meetings.
I had not reviewed grants.
Simon handled the reports.
I signed what Katherine described as routine.
Routine.
The most dangerous word in any organization.
Claire traced one line in the ledger.
“These dates match the clinic shortages.”
Katherine nodded.
“Simon diverted the refunds.”
“Then what does Thomas have to do with it?” Dominic asked.
That was the question.
Evelyn’s notes never directly accused him of stealing.
Instead, she wrote things like:
T asked Simon to move allocation.
T says A doesn’t need details.
S uncomfortable.
T wants separate reserve.
One line appeared three times:
Harbor project.
I knew the Harbor project.
At least, I thought I did.
Four years earlier, Thomas had proposed purchasing several aging commercial properties along the river before a redevelopment plan became public.
We bought them through intermediaries.
The project had eventually produced millions.
“What does Harbor have to do with a medical charity?” I asked.
Katherine looked grim.
“Maybe nothing.”
Claire glanced at her.
“You don’t believe that.”
“No.”
Katherine turned several pages.
“Look at the dates. The first diverted foundation refund occurred two weeks after Harbor needed emergency capital.”
I frowned.
“We had capital.”
“You did.”
The distinction mattered.
“Thomas didn’t?”
Katherine leaned back.
“I need bank records.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Would Mercer have needed separate financing?”
I thought back.
At the time Thomas had insisted on managing the acquisition himself.
He told me it mattered to him to prove he could build something independently rather than remain the man standing beside Adrian Vale.
I had understood.
Or thought I did.
I gave him room.
Maybe too much.
“Thomas put his own money into Harbor,” I said.
“How much?” Katherine asked.
“Ten million.”
“Did you verify that?”
“No.”
“Why?”
I looked at her.
“Because he was Thomas.”
May you like
Nobody said anything.
They didn’t need to.
