Page 98 of My Secret Snowflake
“Yes. For his own sake.”
Aaron opens the accounting files that underlie the recent executive PowerPoint presentation for L’Etoile.
Nothing.
Aaron purses his lips. “Let me check this other folder.” Aaron clicks on another folder called Backup. It’s password protected.
That seems like a good sign, even if we can’t get in.
“We can ask Ernest,” I say.
“Let’s try Mother,” Aaron says.
“Mother?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s his password. He’s always saying how he doesn’t need a password book because it’s not like he’d ever forget his mother.”
Iris would have a heart attack.
And there it is.
An invoice from Snow Leopard White Hat Consulting.
With Priya’s email address.
Ernest saved the documentation that Dream paid this invoice, and Colby then reimbursed the company.
“Wow,” Aaron says. “I just got chills. This is like a smoking gun. Does it save Iris?”
“They might still claim it’s Iris’s company,” I say. “We’re closer to unraveling all the lies. I need to search the New York State corporation database to find out who owns Snow Leopard White Hat Consulting.” And I bet it’s Priya. We save the document to our own files, and I print out a copy.
Bob knocks on the door. “Xavier agreed to release Raphael from his NDA. Can you come to my office? We need to talk in private.”
That doesn’t sound good.
Aaron and I stand to leave, and I follow Bob into his office. Bob slumps in his chair. His pallor is not good. He excuses himself as he takes some pills with a glass of water.
“We found the money trail.” I show him the invoice.
Bob stares at it. “I don’t believe Colby forgot this payment. That’s not Colby. He wanted this person to think the company was paying for their services.”
“Exactly,” I say. “Which makes it unlikely it was Iris.”
Bob sighs. “I’m not as surprised as I should be. I was worried one of them would go off and do something half-cocked because they thought the company was at risk of closure. But I thought it would be Xavier, not Colby. I thought Colby was the more logical one and wouldn’t pull a crazy stunt like this.”
He picks up the invoice and the record of Colby’s repayment. He shakes his head. “At least Colby has resigned. But Xavier has made it clear that he’s blaming me for this and he expects my resignation—after I fix this. I’ll recommend that he appoint you as GC. I should have done this kind of legwork before accepting Colby and Kevin’s accusations.”
He stands. “I’ll tell Xavier now what we’ve found.”
I should feel happier, but he really doesn’t look well.
“Are you sure?” I ask. “We can wait. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I’m sure. And I’ll feel a lot better once I’ve done this. I’ve been considering retirement for some time now, in part for health reasons. That one time you came in and I shoved the papers into a drawer—that was me doing calculations on my income streams if I quit.”
His phone rings. “I’m going to take this, but I’ll talk to Xavier as soon as I finish.”
I leave his office and return to mine.
