“Where did you get this?”
“Internal audit.”
“Why wasn’t I informed?”
“You were scheduled to be informed this afternoon.”
Eleanor stood slowly.
On the screen were millions of dollars moving through subsidiaries I had never heard of.
Vale Meridian.
Vale Infrastructure East.
North Crescent Holdings.
The numbers blurred together.
“What am I looking at?” I asked.
Daniel answered.
“Marcus Vale borrowed nearly two hundred million dollars from Halston-backed funds for development projects.”
Richard whistled softly.
“Jesus.”
Daniel continued.
“Some projects appear significantly overvalued. Others may not exist at all.”
Eleanor whispered, “No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“We believe at least forty-six million dollars may have been diverted.”
The word fraud hung unspoken in the air.
Eleanor turned away.
“Claire wouldn’t know.”
“We don’t know what Claire knows.”
“My granddaughter would never—”
“I’m not accusing Claire.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Daniel closed the laptop.
“I’m saying Marcus had a reason to know where you were going this morning.”
