Chapter 9 - GRANT MAKES HIS MOVE
Grant discovered Elias was checking records.
Maybe IT told him.
Maybe Rebecca did unintentionally.
Maybe guilty people simply recognize attention.
On Thursday afternoon, Grant called Elias into his office.
The door closed.
Grant folded his hands.
“I’m hearing concerns about Westbridge.”
Elias played stupid.
“What concerns?”
“Material reconciliation.”
“Okay.”
“We may have some overages.”
“Then accounting fixes them.”
Grant studied him.
“You approve field purchasing.”
“When I approve something.”
Grant smiled.
“You approve a lot.”
There it was.
“Something you want to say?”
Grant leaned back.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
Elias almost laughed.
“From what?”
“Sloppy documentation.”
Grant opened a folder.
Inside were copies of Elias’s supposed approvals.
“You’re a good superintendent. But your paperwork has always been your weak point.”
That was clever.
Elias did hate paperwork.
Everyone knew it.
Grant had built the fraud around a believable flaw.
Then:
“If this becomes a formal audit, they may ask hard questions.”
Elias nodded.
“Let them.”
Grant’s smile faded.
“You have a family.”
“Yep.”
“House.”
“Yep.”
“Daughter headed toward college.”
Elias stared.
“Leave Josephine out of this.”
Grant leaned forward.
“I didn’t mention her.”
“You just did.”
Silence.
Grant’s face changed.
For the first time, the friendship dropped away completely.
“What did Rebecca tell you?”
Elias stood.
“Not enough.”
Then left.
That night, Grant tried remotely deleting procurement emails.
May you like
The company’s cloud retention system kept copies.
His panic became evidence.
