"Do you?"
"Yes. We approved payments without complete supporting documentation. We accepted invoices that weren't properly verified. And now the person considering buying this company is asking for the original records."
Richard looked toward the open office door.
"Keep your voice down."
David gave a bitter laugh.
"That's exactly what we've been doing for months."
Richard stared at him.
"Are you accusing me of something?"
"I'm saying we need to tell the truth."
Richard's jaw tightened.
"You approved the payments too."
David nodded.
"I know."
"Then don't pretend you're standing outside this situation."
"I'm not pretending anything."
David stood.
"I signed those approvals because you told me the executive committee had authorized the additional work. I trusted you."
Richard looked away.
David continued.
"And now I don't know whether that authorization ever existed."
Richard said nothing.
David's voice softened.
"Richard, we have employees here who have worked for this company for decades. Samuel has given twenty-six years of his life to this place. We took money away from people like him while paying a consulting firm hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Richard rubbed his face.
"You don't understand the pressure I was under."
David shook his head.
"Maybe I don't."
He paused.
"But I understand what happened to those employees."
Richard walked toward the door.
"Don't do anything until I speak with legal."
David looked at him.
"That's the problem, Richard. We keep waiting for someone else to decide when doing the right thing becomes convenient."
Richard stopped.
For a second, he seemed ready to respond.
Then he left.
At 1:45 p.m., Arthur received another call.
It was from Daniel.
"Mr. Bennett, we found something."
Arthur was sitting in a small office near the service department.
"What is it?"
"One of the Northbridge invoices includes a payment for employee transition assistance."
"How much?"
"Seventy-two thousand dollars."
Arthur looked at his notebook.
"And who received the assistance?"
"That's the strange part. The report lists eighteen employees as beneficiaries."
"Can you verify that?"
"Yes. We compared the names with Sterling Motors' personnel records."
"And?"
"None of the eighteen employees received the payments directly."
Arthur leaned forward.
"Where did the money go?"
Daniel paused.
"It appears to have been paid to Northbridge."
Arthur closed his eyes briefly.
"Do we know whether the services were provided?"
"Not yet."
"Then don't make assumptions."
"Understood."
Daniel continued.
"There's another name on the report."
"Whose?"
"Samuel."
Arthur looked through the office window.
The older mechanic was now sitting on a small stool, drinking water.
"Samuel was listed as receiving transition assistance?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Four thousand dollars."
Arthur stared at the tablet.
"Has anyone told him?"
"Not that I can determine."
Arthur stood.
"Daniel, find the original payment records. I want to know whether that money was ever intended for Samuel."
"Yes, sir."
"And contact our legal department. We may need an independent review."
"Understood."
Arthur ended the call.
He walked back into the service department.
Samuel was still sitting near the workbench.
"Samuel?"
The mechanic looked up.
"Mr. Bennett. Is everything all right?"
"May I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you were entitled to employee transition assistance during last year's restructuring?"
Samuel frowned.
"No."
"Did you receive any payment outside your regular salary?"
Samuel shook his head.
"No, sir. Why?"
Arthur chose his words carefully.
"I'm reviewing some company records. Your name appears in a document related to a payment."
Samuel looked confused.
"What kind of payment?"
"I don't know enough yet to give you a complete answer."
Samuel slowly stood.
"Are you saying somebody took money that was supposed to go to me?"
"I'm saying that I want to establish the facts before drawing conclusions."
Samuel looked away.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then he laughed quietly.
"Well, I suppose that would explain a few things."
Arthur waited.
Samuel continued.
"Last year, they told us the company couldn't afford to maintain our previous benefits. They said everyone needed to make sacrifices."
He looked at his hands.
"Some of us did."
Arthur felt his chest tighten.
"How much did you lose?"
Samuel shrugged.
"Enough to notice."
"Why didn't you challenge it?"
Samuel looked directly at him.
"Because I have a wife who depends on me. Because I have a mortgage. Because I don't have another twenty-six years to start over somewhere else."
He paused.
"And because people like me don't usually win arguments with people like Richard Collins."
Arthur looked at him.
"Perhaps it's time someone listened."
Samuel's eyes filled slightly.
He turned away, embarrassed.
"I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me."
"I know."
"I just wanted to finish my career without having to worry about whether my paycheck would cover the bills."
Arthur placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
"That's not too much to ask."
Samuel nodded.
Then he returned to his workbench.
Arthur stood there for several seconds.
He had built his company on the belief that business success should never depend on exploiting people who had fewer choices.
Now he was looking at a dealership where that principle had apparently been forgotten.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Daniel appeared.
WE FOUND THE ADDITIONAL PAYMENT APPROVAL. IT WAS SIGNED BY RICHARD COLLINS, DAVID HARRISON, AND A THIRD PERSON.
Arthur opened the attachment.
The third signature belonged to someone he recognized.
Someone whose name should never have appeared on a document of this kind.
He stared at the screen.
Then he looked toward the second-floor offices.
Richard was standing behind the glass, watching him.
For a brief moment, their eyes met.
Arthur didn't look angry.
He didn't look surprised.
He simply looked disappointed.
And somehow, that expression frightened Richard more than any accusation could have.
Because Richard was beginning to understand that Arthur Bennett had not come to Sterling Motors merely to purchase a dealership.
He had come to find out whether the company still deserved to exist in the form it had become.
And the next name in the investigation might change everything.
The room became painfully quiet.
Daniel Brooks placed the printed approval document on the conference table. Three signatures appeared beneath the authorization for the additional three hundred and sixty thousand dollars paid to Northbridge Strategic Solutions.
Richard Collins.
David Harrison.
And Victoria Shaw.
Arthur Bennett stared at the third signature for several seconds.
He did not look surprised.
He looked disappointed.
“Victoria,” he said quietly.
Daniel glanced at him. “You know she signed it?”
“I know whose signature it is. What I don't know is why the director of Human Resources approved a payment supposedly connected to employees who never received the assistance promised to them.”
Across the room, David Harrison shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“Arthur, I think we should be careful about what we're implying,” he said. “The payment went through the proper approval process.”
Arthur slowly turned toward him.
“Then explaining it should be easy.”
David opened his mouth, but no answer came.
Arthur looked back at Daniel.
“Bring Victoria in. And ask her to bring every document related to the Northbridge employee transition program. Not a summary. Not a presentation. Every document.”
Daniel nodded and left the room.
Richard Collins remained near the glass wall, his arms folded.
“Victoria was responsible for the employee side of the restructuring,” he said. “Her signature simply confirmed that Human Resources had reviewed the program.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Reviewed it or verified that the money reached the people whose names were on the list?”
Richard's jaw tightened.
“Those are essentially the same thing.”
“No,” Arthur replied. “They are not.”
He picked up the document.
“Reviewing a proposal means looking at what someone intends to do. Verifying a payment means confirming that someone actually received what was promised. Those are two very different responsibilities.”
Richard said nothing.
Arthur placed the paper back on the table.