Chapter 6 - The Presentation That Should Have Been Canceled.
Marcus Vale did not wait for an invitation before entering the conference room.
He was sixty, silver-haired, and famous inside Westbridge for making every sentence sound like a favor.
"Arthur."
Arthur Hale remained seated.
"Marcus."
Marcus glanced at Daniel's temporary badge, the open notebook, and Elizabeth standing beside Maya.
"I heard there was some confusion last night."
Elizabeth noticed the word immediately.
Confusion.
It reduced a public humiliation, a raised hand, a disputed signature, and an active audit to something minor and inconvenient.
Arthur did not accept the framing.
"There is an investigation."
Marcus smiled.
"Then investigate."
He pointed toward the boardroom down the hall.
"But don't derail a quarterly meeting because two people had a personal argument."
Daniel straightened.
Elizabeth saw it happen.
The moment Marcus entered, Daniel looked less like a man under review and more like someone who believed help had arrived.
Arthur noticed too.
"Who restored the Northstar presentation?"
Marcus shrugged.
"I did."
No one spoke.
"You used my override code."
"A code assigned to both chairman and vice chairman during continuity events."
Arthur's voice stayed calm.
"This is not a continuity event."
Marcus's smile thinned.
"It becomes one when the chairman lets personal sympathy interfere with business."
Elizabeth felt Maya shift beside her.
Marcus turned toward Daniel.
"Can you present Northstar?"
Daniel answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
"Then present it."
Arthur stood.
"No."
Marcus faced him.
"The board is already seated."
"The authorship is disputed."
"Then let the board hear the work and decide whether it matters."
Elizabeth spoke for the first time.
"It matters to me."
Marcus looked at her as though he had forgotten she was in the room.
"Ms. Monroe, I sympathize with what happened last night."
"Do you?"
The question surprised him.
Elizabeth continued.
"Because you keep calling it personal while discussing a project built from my work."
Marcus's expression hardened by one degree.
"The board does not decide ownership based on emotion."
"Neither do I."
Elizabeth pointed to Rebecca Sloan's laptop.
"That's why we're talking about records."
Arthur almost smiled.
Marcus did not.
"Nine thirty."
He turned toward the door.
"Daniel presents."
Arthur's reply stopped him.
"Then Elizabeth will attend."
Daniel looked sharply at Arthur.
"She's not an employee."
"She's a material witness in an authorship review."
Marcus paused.
"Fine."
He opened the door.
"Let the board hear both sides."
At nine twenty-eight, Elizabeth entered the main boardroom for the first time in her life.
The long table seemed to stretch the length of the city skyline behind it.
Twelve directors sat beneath recessed lights.
Daniel stood at the presentation screen in a fresh suit, his temporary badge removed.
Somebody had given him back the appearance of authority even if the system had not restored it.
Vivian sat in the guest row near the rear wall.
Elizabeth had not expected her.
Vivian met her eyes and smiled.
That smile made Elizabeth more alert than any insult could have.
Marcus opened the meeting.
"We will proceed with the Northstar review before addressing unrelated personnel concerns."
Arthur immediately corrected him.
"They are related."
Marcus ignored the comment.
Daniel began.
His voice was smooth.
For the first ten minutes, he delivered Elizabeth's work almost perfectly.
He used her transitions.
Her examples.
Her explanation of seasonal attrition.
Elizabeth felt something stranger than anger.
She felt erased in real time.
Then Daniel reached slide twenty-seven.
One director interrupted.
"Why seventy-eight percent?"
Daniel paused.
"It was the strongest confidence threshold available."
Elizabeth looked down.
Wrong.
The director followed up.
"Strongest by what test?"
Daniel clicked to the next slide.
"A blended sensitivity analysis."
Also wrong.
Arthur turned toward Elizabeth.
"Ms. Monroe, do you want to answer?"
Marcus objected.
"This is Daniel's presentation."
Elizabeth stayed seated.
"Then Daniel should answer."
Daniel's eyes flashed toward her.
The director repeated the question.
Daniel gave a longer answer that sounded more impressive and became less accurate with every sentence.
Finally, Elizabeth spoke.
"Seventy-eight percent wasn't the strongest threshold."
Everyone looked at her.
"It was the lowest threshold that remained stable across four seasonal cycles without forcing unnecessary staffing reductions."
The director leaned forward.
"How many cycles did the original model use?"
"Two."
"Why did you change it?"
"Because two made the model look cleaner and the business worse."
A few directors exchanged glances.
Daniel stepped away from the screen.
"She was one of several people who provided input."
Elizabeth looked at him.
"Name the other people who built the model."
Daniel did not answer.
Maya sat perfectly still behind Elizabeth.
Marcus intervened.
"This is turning into theater."
Arthur replied.
"No."
He looked at Daniel.
"It is turning into verification."
Daniel's hand tightened around the presentation remote.
Then Vivian stood from the back row.
"If verification is what you want, verify this."
She walked forward carrying a red leather folder.
Elizabeth recognized the color.
It was the same folder Vivian had kept beside her at the gala.
Vivian placed it before the directors.
"The original assignment agreement."
Rebecca Sloan stood immediately.
"Where did you get that?"
Vivian ignored her.
She opened the folder.
Inside was a complete version of the rights statement.
This one had the missing final page.
Elizabeth saw her copied signature again.
Then she saw something worse.
At the bottom of the last page was a notary stamp.
Marcus leaned back in his chair.
"That seems rather clear."
Arthur looked at Elizabeth.
She stared at the date.
Seattle.
She had been in Seattle on that date.
Then she noticed the notary's name.
Her breath caught.
May you like
She knew that name.
The notary was Daniel's aunt.
