Chapter 4
There had been no break-in.
The electronic lock showed a valid credential.
Grant Cole.
At 9:43 the previous night.
Two hours after the rally ended.
Raffaele wanted to call Grant immediately.
Caroline stopped him.
“If you want records recovered, we do this properly.”
“He stole them.”
“We know he accessed the office. We don’t yet know what he removed.”
Raffaele hated sentences built from caution.
They were usually correct.
The charity board voted that afternoon to suspend Grant’s vendor authority and commission an independent audit.
Raffaele recused himself from supervising it directly.
That surprised everyone.
Especially Vanessa.
She called him for the first time since the rally.
“You’re letting strangers tear through family business?”
“It’s a public charity.”
“It’s our charity.”
“No.”
Raffaele looked at Lily coloring at the kitchen table.
“That may be part of the problem.”
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“Grant made mistakes. He can fix them.”
“What mistakes?”
Silence.
Raffaele leaned back.
“You just admitted you know there are mistakes.”
“I know my brother.”
“So do I.”
“No, you don’t.”
There was something bitter in the sentence.
Not defensive.
Personal.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa disconnected.
The audit team began with electronic records that Grant could not carry out in boxes.
Payments to motorcycle-equipment vendors had risen almost forty percent in eighteen months.
Attendance had not.
Donation revenue had.
That should have produced more money for the charity’s programs.
Instead, net proceeds had fallen.
Helen Ward admitted she had questioned invoices twice.
“Grant told me you wanted premium vendors.”
“I never spoke to him about vendors.”
“He said you had.”
Another use of Raffaele’s name.
Another person who had believed it.
That evening, Adrian knocked on Raffaele’s office door.
“I remember something.”
Raffaele motioned him inside.
“One of Grant’s security guys was at the estate last week.”
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know. He came out of the charity office.”
“When?”
“Wednesday.”
Before Adrian confronted Grant about the invoices.
Raffaele pulled up visitor logs.
Neither security man had been registered.
But Grant’s vehicle had entered the estate.
Forty minutes later it left with two passengers.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“They weren’t hired for the rally.”
“No.”
Raffaele finally understood.
May you like
They had been brought in before anyone knew Adrian would fight.
Which meant Grant had expected to need them.
