Chapter 19: Must Be Nice

On Monday at nine, two hundred people stood on the open floor at Lanternfield Logistics and waited for me.

I had walked out of that room two weeks ago carrying a cardboard box.

This morning I carried a single sheet of paper.

The audit chair stood beside me in a dark suit.

Thane stood at the back with his hands in his pockets, where I had asked him to stay.

"Nadine told this floor she would read the findings herself," the chair said. "She has earned the microphone."

She handed it to me.

My hands were steady.

"Good morning," I said. "For six years, my paycheck went into an account that was not mine."

"The total was one million nine hundred and twelve thousand dollars."

"I didn't know. Nobody here knew, and the audit is the reason we do."

I read the three findings.

I read the forged signature, the cousin's notary stamp and the date on the form that never matched my login.

Nobody shifted on their feet.

"On Saturday Trevor pleaded guilty, with no deal and no condition from me," I said.

"His sentencing is in ten days. I will be in that courtroom, and I will say the number to his face."

A woman near the front began to clap.

Then someone behind her did, and then the whole floor was applauding, and I stood there with the microphone and let it hit me.

The finance chief stepped out of the crowd.

She was in her navy suit, and she walked up to the platform with her shoulders very straight.