They also needed to know who had created the vendors in the company's accounting system and who had changed their banking details.
Rachel prepared a formal request.
While they waited, Evelyn searched her personal files for the project budgets she had retained lawfully.
She found a quarterly report showing that the Northbridge project had incurred an unexpected increase in consulting expenses.
At the time, she had questioned the amount.
The finance department had responded that the increase reflected specialist work required for environmental assessments and maritime engineering.
The explanation had seemed reasonable.
Now she noticed that the report did not identify the consultants.
It referred only to a general category: External Technical Services.
Evelyn remembered asking Leonard Price for a breakdown.
He had promised to send one.
She had never received it.
She opened her personal notebook and found the entry.
LP says breakdown delayed pending revised scope. Follow up before final approval.
The next entry, dated ten days later, read:
Adrian says finance has cleared Northbridge costs. Proceed with revised schedule.
Her handwriting stopped abruptly.
She remembered the meeting.
Adrian had been standing by the windows of her office, watching the construction cranes across the river.
He had told her that the project was falling behind schedule and that the financing agreement required a revised cost forecast.
"We can't keep waiting for perfect documentation," he had said. "The investors need certainty."
Evelyn had objected that the revised forecast included consulting expenses she could not reconcile.
Adrian had looked at her with a mixture of irritation and disappointment.
"You trust your instincts more than your own team."
"I trust numbers that can be explained."
"Then let finance explain them."
"They haven't."
He had walked toward the door.
"Approve the schedule, Evelyn. We can resolve the details afterward."
She had approved the revised schedule.
Not the individual invoices, she believed. Not necessarily the payments now listed in the company's letter.
But the memory made her uneasy.
Had she allowed urgency to override a question she should have pursued?
Rachel listened as Evelyn described the exchange.
"This is important," she said. "Not because it proves wrongdoing, but because we need to understand the distinction between approving a forecast and authorizing individual payments. If the company is treating those actions as equivalent, the underlying records should clarify the difference."
"Will they?"
"If the records are complete."
"And if they aren't?"
"Then we investigate why."
That evening, Evelyn received an email from a former colleague named Samuel Reed.
Samuel had been a project manager at Hartwell for seven years. He was meticulous, quiet, and notoriously uncomfortable with office politics.
The email contained only four lines.
I heard what happened. I don't know what to believe, but I remember the Northbridge reviews. There were questions about vendor documentation. I was told not to put anything further in writing. If you want to talk, meet me somewhere public.
Evelyn read it carefully.
She forwarded it to Rachel, who advised her not to discuss confidential information or pressure Samuel to provide records he was not authorized to disclose.
"If he has relevant knowledge, we can arrange an appropriate interview through counsel," Rachel said. "Don't turn this into an informal investigation."
Evelyn agreed.
She replied to Samuel with a simple message.
Thank you for reaching out. Please don't access or copy any company records on my behalf. My attorney can arrange a conversation if you're comfortable.
Samuel responded almost immediately.
Understood. I'm sorry this is happening.
The next morning, he sent another message.
One more thing. Northbridge wasn't the only project with unusual consulting expenses.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
She wanted to ask which projects.
She wanted to know who had ordered the expenses, who had questioned them, and why employees had been told not to document their concerns.
But she did not reply.
Instead, she forwarded the message to Rachel.
The attorney called her fifteen minutes later.
"We need to be careful," Rachel said. "This could be relevant, but we cannot assume that unusual expenses establish fraud. Samuel may have seen something important, or he may have incomplete information."
"I know."
"Then we'll proceed methodically."
Evelyn looked through the hotel window at the river.
A construction crane stood above the rooftops, its long arm extending over the unfinished buildings.
For years, she had believed that the company's strength came from its ability to turn uncertain plans into solid structures.
Now she understood how easily a structure could be made to look stable while its foundations were being hollowed out.