“Was she terminated?”
“No.”
“Did she resign?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would she be upset?”
He shifted in his chair.
“She disagreed with some management decisions.”
I nodded.
“Did you provide confidential company information to Meridian Public Strategies?”
He looked surprised.
“Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“We had preliminary discussions with them years ago.”
“Did those discussions continue after compliance rejected the proposal?”
He paused.
“Not in any formal capacity.”
I held his gaze.
“That's not the question.”
He looked toward the window.
“Marcus, government partnerships involve a lot of informal conversations.”
“Did you share my travel schedule?”
His expression changed.
“Your travel schedule?”
“Yes.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I'm asking whether you did.”
He leaned forward.
“Are you accusing me of something?”
“I'm asking a direct question.”
He stared at me.
Then he answered.
“Not that I recall.”
I felt a familiar discomfort.
The same discomfort I had felt years earlier when Richard Calloway answered questions without really answering them.
I folded my hands.
“Gregory, the independent audit committee will review the allegations. Until that process is complete, your access to certain systems will be restricted.”
He sat upright.
“You can't be serious.”
“I am.”
“After everything I've done for this company?”
“This isn't a judgment about your entire career.”
He laughed bitterly.
“It certainly feels like one.”
I looked at him.
“You'll have an opportunity to provide records and respond to the allegations.”
He stood.
“Marcus, you're making a mistake.”
“Then the evidence should establish that.”
He stared at me for another moment.
Then he walked out.
By the following morning, Gregory had retained an attorney.
The audit committee engaged an outside forensic accounting firm and an independent law firm.
Their instructions were specific.
Preserve relevant records.
Review the ethics complaint.
Determine whether company information had been disclosed without authorization.
Examine any financial relationship involving Meridian Public Strategies.
And establish whether the original complaint had been handled appropriately.
I recused myself from decisions about individual employment consequences beyond necessary interim protections.
I wanted the review to be independent.
I also wanted Gregory to receive a fair process.
Because I had learned something from the years surrounding my traffic stop.
A person can be deeply suspicious of someone's conduct and still owe them fairness.
Three days later, Vanessa Cole agreed to meet with the independent investigators.
I was not present.
I received only a procedural update.
She had provided emails, meeting notes, and financial records that she believed supported her allegations.
The investigators would authenticate them.
They would interview relevant employees.
And they would compare her account with the company's preserved records.
That was all I needed to know at that stage.
But on Friday afternoon, David called me with an unexpected development.
“Marcus, the audit committee found something.”
I closed my laptop.
“What?”
“A payment.”
“From whom?”
“Bennett Dynamics.”
“To whom?”
“Meridian Public Strategies.”
I frowned.
“We rejected their proposal.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did we pay them?”
David paused.
“The payment wasn't made through the government partnerships budget.”
“Where was it recorded?”
“Under market research.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
I stared at the wall.
“Who approved it?”
“Gregory Sloan.”
I took a breath.
“Was there a contract?”
“A consulting agreement. The committee is reviewing whether the services were actually delivered.”
“Did the payment violate policy?”
“We don't know yet.”
I nodded.
“Then don't assume it did.”
David continued.
“There's something else.”
I closed my eyes.
“What?”
“The invoice description includes a project name.”
“What project?”
He hesitated.
“Blackbird.”
I looked up.
“Blackbird?”
“Yes.”
I thought about my Aston Martin.
Jet-black paint.
A temporary registration.
A vehicle someone had photographed before my traffic stop.
Then I stopped myself.
A project name was not proof of a connection.
It might have referred to something entirely unrelated.
“What does Blackbird mean?” I asked.
David answered.
“We're trying to find out.”
That evening, I drove to my mother's house.
She lived in the same brick home where I had grown up.
The porch needed painting.
The garden was overflowing with flowers.
And the old wind chimes my father had installed still hung beside the front door.
She opened the door before I knocked.
“Marcus, you look tired.”
I smiled.
“Hello to you too, Mom.”
She stepped aside.
“Come in.”
The kitchen smelled like cornbread and roasted chicken.
I sat at the table while she poured iced tea.
Then she looked at me.
“What's wrong?”
I hesitated.
“Something at work.”
She sat across from me.
“Tell me.”
I explained the letter.
The allegations.
Gregory.
The payment.
The investigation.
My mother listened carefully.
When I finished, she folded her hands.
“Do you believe he betrayed you?”
I looked down.
“I don't know.”
She nodded.
“Then don't call it betrayal yet.”
I looked at her.
“That's exactly what I've been telling everyone.”
She smiled.
“Then you learned something from me.”
I laughed softly.
She became serious.
“Marcus, trusting someone doesn't mean you're foolish.”
“I know.”
“And finding out they may have done something wrong doesn't mean every good thing they ever did was false.”
I considered that.