“You left me alone for years,” she said.
“Every dinner was a conference call.
Every vacation ended with you in another room.
Daniel listened.”
Richard absorbed the accusation without flinching.
“My failures as a husband do not explain theft.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Evelyn lifted the tablet.
“You removed sealed company material from a restricted office and delivered it to an employee who apparently forwarded acquisition information to a competitor’s consultant.
That may be more than theft.”
Daniel’s gaze snapped toward Vanessa.
“You said the papers weren’t traceable.”
The sentence escaped before he could stop it.
The room reacted as one body.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Richard’s chief financial officer looked down at the ground.
Evelyn spoke first.
“Thank you, Daniel.
That was helpful.”
“I meant she said the birthday plans weren’t confidential,” he stammered.
“You’re twisting my words.”
“No one asked you whether the papers were traceable,” I said.
Daniel turned on me.
“You think this makes you clever? You have no income without me.
You have no idea how quickly your life can collapse.”
There it was again: the weapon he had used so often that he no longer realized he was displaying it.
What Daniel did not know was that my life had already started changing two weeks earlier.
After the first camera alert, I had met with a divorce attorney.
I had copied our bank records, mortgage statements, tax returns, insurance policies, and credit reports.
I had opened an account in my own name and deposited the money my mother left me before our marriage, money Daniel could not legally claim as long as I kept it separate.
I had also discovered that Daniel had withdrawn $38,000 from our joint savings in small transfers over six months.
He told the bank the payments were for consulting services.
The recipient was a limited liability company registered to an apartment Vanessa had been using across town.
I handed Evelyn a second folder from my bag.
“These are personal financial records,” I said.
“They may not concern the company, but the payments correspond with several dinners Daniel submitted for reimbursement as client meetings.”
Evelyn studied the dates.
Richard’s chief financial officer stepped beside her.
“I approved some of those expenses,” he said.
“The client names were listed as confidential acquisition contacts.”
Daniel looked suddenly smaller.
“Everyone uses broad descriptions on expense reports.”
“Not for dates when you were paying rent on an apartment,” the chief financial officer replied.
Vanessa turned to Daniel.
“You billed the company for us?”
He stared at her in disbelief.
“You told me Richard never checked individual expenses.”
Again, the truth came out because each of them was more afraid of being blamed than loyal to the other.
Richard nodded once to his security chief.
“Take Daniel’s company phone, laptop, building badge, and vehicle keys.
Do not allow him into any office or company system.”
Daniel stepped back.
“You can’t fire me based on a family argument.”
“You are not being fired tonight,” Evelyn said.
“You are being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into potential theft of confidential information, false expense reports, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.”
