Chapter 6 - The Voice in the Elevator.
Nolan did not defend himself immediately, and that made the silence around him heavier than any accusation.
He removed his security badge and placed it in Adrian's hand without being asked.
'Northline passed every background check we ran,' he said.
'Then somebody knew exactly what your checks would miss,' Mara replied.
Nolan looked at her without resentment.
'That's possible.'
Adrian gave the badge back.
'I didn't ask for that.'
'You were thinking it.'
'I'm thinking about everyone.'
They left the old archive at 2:22 a.m. with the relay sealed in an evidence bag and the printed pages secured in Theo's case.
The elevator stopped unexpectedly between the basement and lobby.
The lights flickered once, then remained on.
A speaker above the control panel crackled.
Mara looked up.
A distorted voice filled the elevator.
'You should have slept longer, Ms. Ellis.'
Adrian stepped in front of Mara instinctively.
Theo reached for the emergency panel while Nolan tried his phone.
The signal was gone.
The voice continued with an almost conversational calm.
'Walk away before sunrise, and everyone keeps what matters to them.'
Mara's hands curled into fists at her sides.
'Who are you?'
There was a brief burst of static.
'Ask the man protecting you why he never told you about Harbor Seven.'
The speaker went dead.
Adrian stared at the ceiling.
Mara stared at Adrian.
'What is Harbor Seven?'
The elevator started moving again before he answered.
When the doors opened on the executive floor, Mara stepped out first and kept walking until they were back inside his office.
'You said you didn't know what the invoices were connected to.'
'I didn't.'
'But you know Harbor Seven.'
Adrian removed his vest and laid it over the back of a chair, revealing more of the tattoos along his forearms as if stripping away ceremony might make the truth easier.
'Harbor Seven was an internal code name for a rescue plan my father created during the recession.'
Mara waited.
'It moved money between divisions to protect thousands of jobs while East Harbor was failing.'
'Legal?'
'Yes, as designed.'
'As designed isn't the same as what happened.'
Adrian looked toward the dark windows.
'No.'
He explained that the program ended officially seven years earlier, but a small group of senior executives had retained special vendor authority for closing costs and old obligations.
Conrad had been one of them.
Helena Ward had been another.
Mara's expression tightened at the board chair's name.
'So the woman running the inquiry had access to the system that created the suspicious payments.'
'Yes.'
Theo closed the office doors.
'That doesn't mean Helena is involved.'
Mara turned to him.
'It means she had the opportunity.'
Nolan placed the Northline relay on the table.
'And Northline had access to private cameras, elevator speakers, and badge systems.'
Mara looked at Adrian again.
'How many pieces of this did you know before tonight?'
'Harbor Seven and my original signature.'
'Nothing else?'
'Nothing else.'
She searched his face for several seconds.
'I need to believe you.'
Adrian's voice lowered.
'Then don't believe me because I ask you to.'
He pushed the recovered evidence toward her.
'Believe what we can prove.'
The office phone rang.
This time Adrian answered.
Helena Ward was on the line.
Her voice sounded controlled but urgent.
'Conrad is gone.'
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
'Gone where?'
'Nobody knows, but his office was cleared out while we were in the boardroom.'
Mara looked toward the door as a new realization formed.
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If Conrad had been the mastermind, he had just abandoned the strongest position he had held all night.
If he had not been the mastermind, someone had just made sure he looked exactly like one.
