Naomi examined the filing date.
Then the amendment date.
Then the date of a public announcement describing the project as fully funded.
Her expression changed.
The announcement had been issued before the amendment.
That did not automatically establish wrongdoing. A project could be fully funded even if its financing structure later changed. But the sequence raised an important question: had the investors received a complete explanation of the amendment before they were told that the funding was secure?
She wrote the question down.
Then she added another.
What exactly has Victor promised the Shanghai group?
She looked at the clock.
6:03 a.m.
Naomi closed the laptop.
She had to be at Silver Pines by eleven.
For a moment, she considered abandoning the entire exercise. She had a job, a rent payment, and enough personal complications without volunteering to investigate a development worth nearly a billion dollars.
But curiosity had never been the only reason she kept asking questions.
Years earlier, when she had worked in Shanghai, her team had been hired to evaluate a proposed commercial development near a rapidly expanding transit corridor. The project looked excellent on paper. The location was attractive, the demand projections were optimistic, and the financing appeared secure.
During her review, Naomi discovered that the developer had counted the same anticipated revenue stream in two different sections of its financial model.
The duplication inflated the projected return.
When she raised the issue, the project director dismissed it as a formatting error.
Naomi checked again.
It was not a formatting error.
The company corrected the model before the final investment decision. The project proceeded on revised terms, and the investors avoided making a decision based on misleading figures.
That experience had taught her something valuable.
A financial model could be wrong without anyone intending to deceive.
But when a model contained several convenient assumptions, when amendments appeared shortly before major announcements, and when questions were met with irritation rather than explanation, the possibility of a deeper problem deserved attention.
Naomi saved her notes in a folder on her personal laptop.
She did not intend to contact anyone.
Not yet.
She would wait for more information.
That was the sensible decision.
For once, she wanted to make the sensible decision.
At eleven forty-five, Silver Pines was already busy.
The lunch crowd had arrived early. Businesspeople filled the booths near the windows, construction workers occupied the long table beside the kitchen, and a family with two small children was negotiating the difficult question of whether pancakes counted as lunch.
Naomi moved between tables with practiced efficiency.
She refilled coffee, delivered salads, and helped a customer understand why the soup of the day was unavailable despite still appearing on the printed menu.
At noon, Daniel Brooks approached her carrying a folded sheet of paper.
“Can I ask you something?”
Naomi looked up from her order pad.
“Depends. Is it about the broken coffee machine?”
“No. The coffee machine has already destroyed enough of my life.”
She smiled.
“What is it?”
Daniel unfolded the paper.
“My daughter has an interview next week for a summer program. They want her to explain a business problem and suggest a solution. She's nervous.”
“How old is she now?”
“Seventeen. Which means she knows everything and is terrified of being asked anything.”
Naomi laughed softly.
“That's a difficult combination.”
“Exactly. I thought maybe you could help her practice.”
“I'd be happy to.”
Daniel studied her face.
“You look tired.”
“I was reading.”
“Reading what?”
“Some reports.”
“Reports about what?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Nothing important.”
Daniel's eyebrows rose.
“You've been awake since four in the morning reading something you describe as unimportant?”
“I didn't say I was awake at four.”
“You just did.”
She shook her head.
“You're becoming dangerously observant.”
“It's part of being a manager. That and pretending I don't know when people steal the good pens.”
He leaned against the service counter.
“Is this about Victor Hale?”
Naomi's smile disappeared.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because he called the restaurant at eight this morning.”
She straightened.
“What did he want?”
“He asked whether you were scheduled today.”
Naomi stared at him.
“What did you tell him?”
“That you were working. Then I asked why.”
“And?”
“He said he wanted to discuss a professional opportunity with you.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
Of course he did.
“What did you say?”
“I told him that if he wanted to discuss a professional opportunity, he could speak to you directly.”
“Thank you.”
Daniel folded the paper again.
“He also asked whether you had a current résumé.”
Naomi looked toward the dining room.
“Did you give him one?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Naomi, I need you to understand something. If a customer wants to offer you a job, that's your business. If a customer wants to interfere with your employment here, that's mine.”
She looked at him.
“I appreciate that.”
“I mean it. You're one of the best people on this staff. I'm not going to let a wealthy customer decide whether you belong here.”
The words affected her more than she expected.
She had become accustomed to defending her own decisions. She was less accustomed to someone else defending her without asking for anything in return.
“Thank you, Daniel.”
He nodded.
“Now, please stop reading billion-dollar financial reports before sunrise. It makes the rest of us look lazy.”
He returned to his office.
Naomi stood for a moment, watching him go.
Then she picked up her order pad and returned to work.
At two fifteen, a black sedan pulled up outside Silver Pines.