Chapter 7 - The Elevator Camera
By 4:00 p.m., Camilla knew we had found the Price connection.
At 4:07, she left Aurelia carrying a black laptop bag.
At 4:11, security called me.
"She refused device collection."
I was already moving.
"Where is she?"
"South elevator."
I reached the lobby just as the elevator doors opened.
Camilla stepped out wearing sunglasses and my mother's earrings.
Of course she did.
"Going somewhere?"
She stopped.
"Home."
"Leave the laptop."
"It's personal."
"Aurelia inventory tag says otherwise."
She smiled.
"You really enjoy this costume, don't you?"
"What costume?"
"Boss."
I looked at the security officers approaching behind her.
"Apparently it comes with a badge reader."
Her smile vanished.
"You have no right to hold me here."
"Correct. You can leave. The company device stays."
She tightened her grip on the bag.
Then she turned and ran.
For a woman in four-inch heels, she moved fast.
She cut through the hotel connector, pushed into the parking structure, and headed for the service stairs.
I followed until common sense caught up with me.
Security passed me.
Camilla made it two floors before a locked fire door stopped her.
She came back down slowly.
The laptop bag was gone.
"Where is it?" I asked.
"No idea."
The garage cameras answered ten minutes later.
On level four, Camilla had handed the bag through a stairwell door to a man in a baseball cap.
The image sharpened.
Daniel Kessler.
The missing CFO.
Malcolm swore.
"He was here?"
Security traced his vehicle leaving six minutes later.
Police were notified because the company laptop contained material under legal hold.
At 5:02, Daniel called Leah.
"I can't come back."
She put him on speaker.
"You already came back."
Silence.
He knew about the camera.
"Camilla said the laptop would clear me."
"Clear you of what?"
"The funding approvals."
Ethan leaned toward the phone.
"Daniel, did you know Meridian was controlled by the Price family?"
"Not at first."
"And later?"
A long pause.
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
"Why keep paying?"
"Because Julian said stopping payments would expose the expansion failure before refinancing closed."
I looked toward the glass conference room.
Julian stood inside with Richard Bell.
He could not hear us.
"What exactly did Julian know?"
Daniel breathed heavily.
"He knew Meridian was connected to Camilla."
"Did he know money was being diverted?"
"I don't know."
"That's not good enough."
"He never asked what he didn't want to know."
That sounded familiar.
Leah asked where Daniel was.
He refused to say.
Then he added one sentence.
"Check the executive archive before Camilla gets someone to wipe it."
"What archive?"
"Project Lighthouse."
The line disconnected.
I looked at Priya.
"Find it."
She typed for less than a minute.
Then stopped.
"There is a directory called Lighthouse."
"Open it."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"It's scheduled for secure deletion at midnight."
I looked at the clock.
Seven hours.
Then Priya's face changed.
"And the deletion request was authorized this morning."
"By who?"
She turned the screen toward me.
May you like
Julian Mercer.
