Chapter 2 - The Camera in the Ceiling
A heavy, suffocating silence descended over the fourth-floor executive boardroom.
Nora Bennett, the operations analyst sitting at the foot of the table, stopped typing and looked up from her laptop.
The two vice presidents who had laughed at Caleb wiping mustard thirty minutes earlier suddenly found their shoes fascinating.
"Mr. Mercer," Victoria said, her tone icy and clipped.
"Are you accusing senior management of signing fraudulent invoices based on thirty work orders?"
"I’m not accusing anyone of anything, Ms. Harwood," Caleb answered evenly.
"I am stating a physical fact verified on the ground."
He opened his scuffed briefcase and pulled out three bound stacks of paper, sliding one toward Victoria and one toward Blair.
"I cross-referenced two hundred and fourteen work orders marked 'completed' over the past three fiscal quarters against our badge-swipe security logs."
"On one hundred and eighty-six occasions, no external contractor badge entered the facilities or dock bays on the date of alleged service."
Blair shoved her chair back with an abrasive screech against the carpet.
"This is completely out of line! This man was brought in to oversee custodial supplies and cafeteria menus!"
"He has no authorization to initiate an unauthorized internal investigation into contracted operations!"
"I asked him to examine internal services and efficiency, Blair," Victoria murmured, her fingers tapping rhythmically against the mahogany table.
May you like
Her voice was unusually quiet now, stripped of the condescending amusement she had worn downstairs in the cafeteria.
"And if these numbers are accurate, we have paid seven hundred and forty thousand dollars for phantom work."
