Chapter 10 - The Fire Exit.
The next morning, Bellamy House stayed dark behind locked glass doors.
A printed notice blamed an emergency maintenance issue.
Inside, forensic accountants from an outside firm worked at tables where customers usually ordered champagne.
Adrian had refused to use Mercer Hospitality’s normal internal audit team.
He no longer knew who Daniel could influence.
Elena arrived after leaving Noah with her sister.
She wore the same hoodie because she had slept only three hours and had not been home long enough to change properly.
Victor sat under police supervision in a private dining room, waiting for another interview.
Daniel had left with his attorney shortly after midnight.
By noon, the accountants found the first pattern.
Rook Dining Consulting received money from seven different employee-related accounts.
Relief grants were only one source.
Training reimbursements, relocation payments, and unused benefit balances had also been redirected.
The total exceeded two million dollars.
Adrian stared at the preliminary figure.
Elena whispered, “How did nobody see this?”
“Because every theft was made to look like help.”
A crash sounded from the rear corridor.
Caleb shouted.
Adrian ran toward the kitchen.
A man in a navy maintenance jacket was dragging a computer tower toward the fire exit.
He dropped it when he saw Adrian and sprinted for the door.
The security guard stationed outside intercepted him.
The man turned out to be a contract technician who had worked on Bellamy House’s cameras for years.
He claimed Daniel had called him that morning and told him to remove a failing backup server.
The accountants examined the tower.
It was not failing.
It contained the local archive for the restaurant’s camera system.
Including deleted footage.
The technician’s face collapsed when police asked why the archive had to be removed during an active investigation.
“I was told it was authorized.”
“By whom?”
“Mr. Rowe.”
Adrian felt the case tighten.
The accountants recovered the missing twelve minutes by late afternoon.
Everyone gathered around a monitor.
The footage showed Daniel entering through the fire exit at 6:31 p.m. the previous night.
Victor met him in the hallway.
They went into the office together.
At 6:44, Victor handed Daniel a folder.
At 6:47, Daniel pointed at the office computer and then at the shredder.
At 6:49, Victor picked up the restaurant phone.
That was the exact time the false police complaint had been made.
Elena stared at the screen.
“He knew I was coming.”
Victor lowered his head.
Adrian turned to him.
“How?”
Victor spoke without looking up.
“Because I told you to come at seven.”
Elena’s face hardened.
“You planned the whole thing.”
Victor nodded once.
“I was supposed to get the bag before you could show it to anyone.”
Adrian asked, “And Daniel?”
Victor looked at the recovered footage.
“He was supposed to make sure there was nothing left in my office that could connect him to it.”
Then the video reached 6:52.
Daniel left through the fire exit carrying a laptop.
The laptop was not company-issued.
Victor recognized it immediately.
“That’s the Rook computer.”
The recovered footage also showed one more detail that Victor had omitted.
After Daniel left with the Rook laptop, Victor stood alone in the office for nearly a minute.
He opened the drawer containing employee licenses, stared at them, and then locked the drawer again.
He had still possessed a final chance to stop the setup before Elena arrived.
He did nothing.
When Elena watched that portion, she did not look angry.
She looked tired.
“That’s what people keep calling a mistake,” she said.
May you like
“It was a choice.”
Victor did not argue.
