The lounge was empty except for us and the man in the dark coat, who stayed near the door.
I sat with Sophia on my lap while James opened the folder again.
This time he turned it toward me.
Most of the pages were filled with numbers, dates, transaction codes, and corporate language I didn’t understand.
“Daniel was a regional director in our community development division,” James said.
“Part of his job involved approving outside contractors for housing projects.”
I remembered seeing Whitmore’s name on advertisements for affordable housing programs.
“What does that have to do with Carmen?”
“I’m getting there.”
He pointed to several entries.
“Last year, our internal auditors noticed payments being routed through contractors that had almost no history.
At first, it looked like sloppy procurement.
Then the amounts increased.”
“How much?”
“Enough that we opened an investigation.”
My mouth went dry.
“Did Daniel steal from you?”
James chose his words carefully.
“We found evidence that he approved contracts connected to companies that were not as independent as they appeared.
Money left Whitmore accounts through legitimate invoices.
Some of it then moved again.”
“To Daniel?”
“That is what investigators are trying to establish.”
I sat back.
“Trying? So you don’t know.”
“I know enough that he was terminated for undisclosed conflicts and falsified internal disclosures.
Other questions remain under legal review.”
My first emotion was not fear.
It was anger.
“Then why isn’t he in jail?”
“Because companies don’t decide who goes to jail.
Evidence has to be verified.
Authorities make those decisions.”
I looked down at the pages.
“Does Carmen know?”
“I don’t know Carmen.”
“Then why did you react when I said Daniel’s name? There could be a hundred Daniel Coles.”
James turned to a photograph clipped inside the folder.
It was him.
Daniel.
Same carefully combed brown hair.
Same smile I’d seen in Carmen’s engagement photos.
My stomach twisted.
James continued.
“There is something else.
During the investigation, Daniel repeatedly claimed he was relocating to Chicago for family reasons and planning a wedding.
He gave the company a forwarding address.”
He tapped a page.
“That address matches the one attached to the wedding information you mentioned while we were talking on the plane.”
I stared at him.
“I never gave you an address.”
“You said the ceremony was at the Bellmont Hotel.
Daniel listed the Bellmont as the location for a private event in correspondence with one of our investigators.”
I felt cold all over.
“So what exactly are you saying?”
James folded his hands.
