Eleanor studied him.
"What do you mean?"
Conrad took a breath.
"The defective parts weren't an accident."
Eleanor remained still.
"Explain."
"Blackthorn manufactured components using materials that didn't meet our specifications. Arthur knew. Victor Kane knew."
"Do you have proof they knew?"
"Emails. Meeting notes. Internal cost calculations."
"Anything about the original accident twenty years ago?"
Conrad hesitated.
"I found an archived folder."
Eleanor felt her pulse quicken.
"What folder?"
"Documents transferred from Arthur's private files during the headquarters relocation."
"What's in it?"
Conrad reached into his jacket again.
He removed a sealed envelope.
"Copies of the original supplier substitutions. And a memorandum dated three days before Walter's accident."
Eleanor opened the envelope.
She read the first page.
Then the second.
Her expression changed.
At the top of the memorandum was Arthur Bell's name.
Beneath it were instructions concerning the experimental motorcycle's component substitutions.
The language was technical.
Dry.
Almost bureaucratic.
But one sentence stood out.
Proceed with the revised assembly regardless of outstanding engineering objections.
Eleanor looked up.
"Who wrote this?"
"Arthur."
"Can you authenticate it?"
Conrad nodded.
"The original is in a secure archive. I know where."
Eleanor took a breath.
"Mr. Voss, before you say anything more, I strongly recommend you retain independent counsel."
Conrad looked frightened.
"Am I going to prison?"
"I can't predict that."
He lowered his head.
"I have a family."
Eleanor's expression remained serious.
"So do the people who trusted these motorcycles to keep them safe."
Conrad closed his eyes.
For a moment, he seemed to have no answer.
Then he whispered, "I know."
Eleanor secured the documents.
"Tell me everything."
Arthur Bell had left the ballroom when Eleanor returned.
Victor Kane had disappeared with him.
Walter was standing beside Richard and several members of the audit committee.
Eleanor approached.
"We need to talk."
Walter saw her expression.
"Now?"
"Now."
They moved into a private office.
Eleanor placed Conrad's documents on the desk.
Walter read them without speaking.
The first page described the supplier substitution.
The second established the cost savings.
The third referenced objections from engineering.
The fourth bore Arthur's authorization.
Walter's hands began to tremble.
He remembered the hospital.
Arthur standing beside his bed.
Arthur speaking softly about the terrible accident.
Arthur telling him that Tommy had made a mistake.
Arthur placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
You need to focus on recovering, Walter. Let me take care of the company.
Walter sat down.
For nearly a minute, he did not speak.
Then he asked, "Did Arthur know the parts were unsafe?"
Eleanor chose her words carefully.
"The records indicate he was warned that the revised assembly had not passed the required engineering review. We still need to establish exactly what he understood and intended."
Walter nodded slowly.
"And he told everyone Tommy caused the accident."
Eleanor looked at him.
"The documents strongly contradict the account Arthur gave you. We should preserve the originals and obtain a full independent review."
Walter looked toward the ceiling.
For twenty years, he had wondered what would have happened if he had listened to Tommy.
Now he understood that the truth had been deliberately obscured.
He had not merely lost a friend because of misunderstanding.
Someone had benefited from keeping them apart.
Eleanor touched the folder.
"There's more."
Walter looked at her.
"What?"
"Conrad says Arthur and Victor planned to transfer Sterling Crown's Heritage engineering rights to a company controlled by Victor. The proposed compensation to Sterling Crown appears substantially below the value of those rights."
Walter closed his eyes.
"And the debts?"
"Some are held through entities connected to the same network."
Walter opened his eyes again.
"So they make the company weaker, then offer to save it."
"That's one possible interpretation supported by the records. The investigators are now tracing the ownership and payments."
Walter looked toward the door.
"Where's Arthur?"
Eleanor hesitated.
"We don't know."
Walter stood.
"Find him."
"Walter."
He turned.
"We should leave that to the investigators and the appropriate authorities."
Walter stared at her.
For a moment, anger consumed him.
He wanted to find Arthur.
He wanted to look into the eyes of the man who had eaten at his table, held his daughter as a baby, stood beside Margaret's grave, and called himself his friend.
He wanted to ask why.
Why Tommy had suffered.
Why the company had been endangered.
Why so many years had been wasted.
But Eleanor's expression reminded him that rage would not restore those years.
"You're right," he said quietly.
He sat down again.
Eleanor looked surprised.
Walter gave a tired smile.
"Don't look so shocked."
"I'm not shocked."
"You are."
"Perhaps a little."
Walter leaned back.
"I've spent twenty years letting anger make decisions for me. I think I've had enough of that."
Eleanor nodded.
"Then let's make sure the evidence speaks for itself."
At the same moment, Arthur Bell was driving toward the private airfield outside Columbus.
Victor Kane sat beside him in the back of a black sedan.
Neither man spoke for several minutes.
Finally, Victor turned.
"You handled that poorly."
Arthur stared straight ahead.
"Walter wasn't supposed to have the audit committee on his side."
"You should have anticipated it."
"Easy for you to say."
Victor's expression hardened.
"Don't start blaming me."
Arthur turned.
"You promised the board would support the transaction."
"And they would have, if you hadn't allowed Sterling to turn an anniversary celebration into a public investigation."
Arthur's hands curled into fists.
Victor continued.
"Do you understand what happens now? The auditors will look at the contracts. The lawyers will examine the ownership structure. The regulators may become involved. Everything we've built could unravel."
Arthur laughed bitterly.
"Everything we've built?"
Victor frowned.
"What?"
"I've carried this company for thirty years while you sat in Chicago collecting profits."
Victor stared at him.
"Be careful."
Arthur leaned closer.
"Don't threaten me."
Victor's expression became cold.
"Arthur, you seem to have forgotten who arranged the financing that kept your little scheme alive."
Arthur turned away.
The sedan exited the highway.
The private airfield lay fifteen miles ahead.
Victor checked his watch.
"The plane is ready."
Arthur glanced at him.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere quiet until we understand how much they know."
Arthur looked out the window.
He had spent nearly four decades believing he was the smartest man in every room.
Now he was fleeing a corporate event he had organized, sitting beside a man who regarded him as expendable.
For the first time, he wondered whether he had ever controlled the arrangement at all.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Conrad.
I'm sorry.