Chapter 18 - The Ledger on the Desk
I tapped a single key on my laptop, and a massive forensic spreadsheet replaced the video on the wall screen.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself to the board," I said, standing at the head of the table beside Ricardo. "Before I took eighteen months off to care for my terminally ill mother and subsequently worked as Vianey Vance’s nanny, I spent seven years as a Senior Forensic Auditor for Deloitte’s Financial Crimes Task Force."
Chairman Pendelton adjusted his glasses, leaning forward in astonishment. "You're Elena Rostova? The auditor who dismantled the Seattle Port Authority kickback scheme in 2021?"
"I am, Mr. Pendelton," I replied. "And over the last three weeks, while Mr. Adrian Vance left his printer trays unattended and his workstation unlocked in the family study, I manually reconstructed the general ledger for Pacific Crest Maritime, Cascadia Container Group, and Aegis Logistics."
I walked to the center of the table and laid out the twelve original wire invoices I had rescued from the burning floor safe—right in front of Adrian.
"You didn't encrypt the Cayman transfers, Adrian," I said calmly. "You routed them through a correspondent bank in Delaware using standard SWIFT protocols under Celeste’s brother’s trust. At 7:30 this morning, with Mr. Ricardo Vance’s authorization and an emergency order from the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, all four point two million dollars of embezzled funds—plus the twelve-million-dollar Tacoma escrow—were clawed back into Vance Logistics’ primary operating account."
Adrian stared at the invoices on the desk, his chest heaving as the last card in his deck turned to ash.
"And as for the noon audit deadline with the Maritime Commission," I continued, handing a bound, notarized reconciliation packet to Chairman Pendelton, "I completed the variance restatement in the hospital waiting room at 5:30 this morning. Every penny is accounted for."
The board members erupted into murmurs of disbelief and relief. Chairman Pendelton looked from the pristine reconciliation balance sheet up to Ricardo.
"Ricardo," Pendelton said, "if we call an immediate vote to strip Adrian Vance of his board seat and CFO title for cause, we need an interim Chief Financial Officer with regulatory clearance before the market opens in twelve minutes."
Ricardo looked at me.
"I am nominating Elena Rostova as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Vance Logistics," Ricardo announced, "effective immediately, at a base compensation of six hundred thousand dollars a year plus executive equity."
"Second!" Pendelton barked instantly. "All in favor?"
Twelve hands went up around the table in unanimous consent.
At the end of the table, Celeste was hyperventilating, clutching Adrian’s sleeve. "Adrian, do something! Tell them!"
"Shut up, you idiot!" Adrian roared, losing his temper completely as he shoved Celeste out of her chair onto the carpet. "If you hadn't bragged to a seven-year-old girl about her closet, none of this would have happened!"
"Wait," Ricardo said softly.
The entire room froze.
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Ricardo picked up the third, heavily charred red binder from the table, walked slowly down the length of the obsidian table, and laid the open page from Keller Forensic Automotive directly in front of his brother—and the two federal marshals standing behind him.
"Embezzlement gets you ten years in a federal camp, Adrian," Ricardo whispered, looking down into his brother's eyes as Adrian read the mechanic's report on Clara's cut brake lines. "Wait until the King County Prosecutor finishes reading this report on how my wife died on Snoqualmie Pass."
