She remembered Martin responding that the matter had been reviewed by finance.
Adrian had replied privately to Evelyn:
Laura is overcomplicating a routine process. We need to keep the project moving.
Evelyn had accepted his explanation.
She had not asked Laura what she meant by the discrepancies.
She had not insisted on seeing the supporting documents.
She had moved on.
For years, she had remembered Laura's departure as an unfortunate personnel dispute.
Now she wondered whether the company had made the same mistake twice.
Or whether the mistake had never been accidental.
She called Rachel.
"I found an old email from Laura. She raised concerns about vendor documentation at Northbridge in 2014."
Rachel became very still.
"Can you send it to me?"
"Yes. It's in my personal email."
"Good. Preserve the original message and its headers. Don't alter or annotate the file."
Evelyn forwarded it.
Rachel reviewed the message and asked several questions about the context.
"Do you know whether Laura was working on the same site that's involved in the current allegations?"
"Yes. The development changed ownership and plans several times, but it's the same waterfront property."
"Do you know whether the current vendor companies existed in 2014?"
"No."
"Then we should not assume they're connected. But the earlier correspondence may help establish a history of unresolved documentation concerns at the site."
Evelyn looked at the photograph.
"Can we contact Laura?"
"Potentially. We should first verify that she is the person in the photograph and establish whether she is willing to speak. We also need to consider whether the email was sent by someone who wants to manipulate the investigation."
Evelyn agreed.
That afternoon, Rachel used lawful public sources to locate Laura's current professional contact information. She had become an independent architect and was working with a small design practice outside the city.
Rachel sent a neutral letter explaining that she represented Evelyn in a corporate dispute and asking whether Laura would be willing to discuss her past work on the Northbridge project.
Laura replied the following morning.
She agreed to meet.
The meeting took place at a quiet café near the old railway station.
Laura arrived five minutes early.
She was in her late forties now, with a few silver strands in her dark hair. She wore a charcoal jacket and carried a leather folder.
When she saw Evelyn, she did not smile.
"I wondered when you would call," Laura said.
Evelyn felt a flush of embarrassment.
"You knew about the allegations?"
"I read the news."
"Then you know why I'm here."
"I know why you think you're here."
Evelyn sat down.
"That's fair."
Laura ordered tea.
For several minutes, they spoke about ordinary things: the city, the weather, the changes to the waterfront district.
Then Laura placed her cup on the table.
"Why did you wait so long to contact me?"
Evelyn could have blamed the circumstances. She could have said that she had only recently found the old email or that she had not understood the significance of Laura's concerns.
Instead, she answered honestly.
"Because I accepted the explanation I was given when you left. I didn't ask enough questions."
Laura studied her.
"That's more than most people admit."
"I'm sorry."
"Do you want to know what happened?"
"Yes."
Laura opened her folder but did not remove anything.
"In 2014, I was asked to certify a revised cost schedule for Northbridge. The schedule included consulting expenses that didn't correspond to the work described in the project documents. Some entries referred to technical assessments that had never been delivered. Others used vague descriptions that made it impossible to identify the actual service."
"What did you do?"
"I asked for the contracts and completion records."
"And?"
"Martin said the finance department had verified everything. Adrian told me I was delaying the project. I refused to certify the schedule."
Evelyn listened without interrupting.
"Then I received a letter accusing me of failing to cooperate with the company's commercial objectives. I was offered the choice of signing the schedule or resigning."
"Did you sign?"
"No."
"Why didn't you take the matter further?"
Laura's expression hardened.
"I did. I raised it with the company's legal department. They told me that the board considered the matter resolved. I didn't have the resources to fight a corporation, and I couldn't prove where the money had gone. I left."
"Did you keep records?"
"Some. The documents I was legally entitled to retain, my employment correspondence, and copies of my own professional notes. I did not take confidential files that belonged to the company."