Chapter 6 - THE MISSING CFO
Daniel Price had worked for Richard's father before Richard ever became CEO.
He knew where old deals were buried.
He knew which buildings had been overleveraged.
He knew which investors were silent partners.
And according to Mara, he had personally authorized at least seven of the transfers now under scrutiny.
By Tuesday morning, Harrison had two investigators trying to locate him.
Khloe sat at the conference table with a cup of tea she had forgotten to drink.
"Should we call the police?"
Harrison shook his head.
"His wife says he leaves for work trips without much warning."
"And he's an adult."
"We don't report him missing because a suspicious email made us nervous."
Khloe looked at the anonymous message again.
"Do you think he's in danger?"
"I think we don't know."
That answer frustrated her more than false reassurance would have.
At ten, the first production from Harrington Commercial arrived.
Twenty-two boxes.
Three encrypted drives.
Thousands of pages.
Mara looked delighted.
"They buried us."
Khloe stared at the boxes.
"You sound happy."
"People bury you when the dangerous page is somewhere in the pile."
"Otherwise, they just hand it over."
For the next six hours, a team of paralegals scanned records.
Khloe helped categorize property files.
Her knowledge of architectural project names became unexpectedly useful.
She recognized code names that looked meaningless to everyone else.
"Atlas wasn't a company," she said suddenly.
Mara looked up.
"What?"
Khloe pointed at an invoice.
"Atlas was Richard's nickname for the King Street project."
"He used to complain it was carrying the whole company."
Mara searched the database.
Thirty-one documents appeared.
One involved Beechmont Advisory.
Another involved Keystone Civic Futures.
A third showed a consulting payment to a firm controlled by a county redevelopment official.
Harrison read the page in silence.
"This is not divorce money."
Khloe looked at him.
"What is it?"
"Potentially influence money."
Mara corrected him.
"Potentially."
"We are not calling anything a bribe based on one consulting invoice."
Harrison nodded.
"Agreed."
Khloe looked between them.
"If Richard was paying officials, what happens?"
Harrison's voice became careful.
"If there is evidence of criminal conduct, we handle it separately."
"We do not use criminal allegations as leverage in your divorce."
"We do not threaten exposure for settlement."
"And we do not make claims we cannot prove."
Khloe nodded.
"You really have rules for everything."
"Rules keep victories from becoming disasters."
At three-thirty, Harrison's assistant entered.
"There is a woman downstairs asking for Khloe."
Harrison looked up.
"Name?"
"Lydia Price."
Khloe stood.
"Daniel's wife?"
The assistant nodded.
Lydia arrived ten minutes later.
She was in her early fifties, pale, elegant, and visibly terrified.
She clutched a brown envelope with both hands.
"I don't know if I should be here."
Harrison gestured toward a chair.
"Then we start with that."
Lydia remained standing.
"Daniel told me if anything happened, I should give this to Khloe."
Khloe's stomach tightened.
"To me?"
"He said Harrison would know what to do with it."
She handed over the envelope.
Inside was a flash drive and a handwritten note.
Khloe recognized Daniel's neat block handwriting from years of holiday cards.
Richard crossed a line I will not cross.
I kept copies.
If I disappear, assume I was frightened, not disloyal.
The sentence made Khloe's skin prickle.
Harrison did not touch the drive directly.
He called a digital forensics specialist.
"We preserve chain of custody."
Lydia finally sat.
Khloe moved beside her.
"When did Daniel give you this?"
"Three months ago."
"Why?"
Lydia's eyes filled.
"He started waking up at night."
"He stopped eating."
"He said Richard was moving money through projects that had nothing to do with construction."
"He said there were people above Richard who expected favors."
Harrison leaned forward.
"Did he name them?"
"No."
"He said names were dangerous unless he had proof."
Khloe felt a chill.
That sounded almost exactly like Harrison.
"Where do you think Daniel is?"
Lydia looked toward the door.
"I don't know."
Then she lowered her voice.
"But Richard came to our house Saturday morning."
Harrison's expression changed.
"After Daniel disappeared?"
"Yes."
"What did he want?"
"He asked whether Daniel had left anything behind."
Khloe stared at her.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Lydia's hands trembled.
"Then Richard walked through my house like he still owned Daniel's loyalty."
"He looked at the desk."
"He looked at the safe."
"He even looked into our guest room."
Harrison's voice became dangerously calm.
"Did you invite him to search?"
"No."
"Did he open drawers?"
"One."
"Did you tell him to stop?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Lydia swallowed.
"He said I was upset and should not make things difficult for myself."
Khloe saw Harrison's jaw tighten.
"Lydia, do you have somewhere safe to stay?"
The woman nodded.
"My sister's."
"Go there."
"Today."
"Do not tell Richard where you are."
"And if he contacts you again, save everything."
Lydia looked at Khloe.
"I'm sorry."
Khloe frowned.
"For what?"
"Daniel knew Richard was cheating."
The room went still.
"He knew for almost a year."
Khloe felt the familiar cut of betrayal.
Another person at another dinner table who had known.
Lydia began crying.
"I told him to tell you."
"He said Richard would fire him."
"We had college tuition."
"A mortgage."
"I know that sounds pathetic now."
Khloe looked down.
For a moment, anger rose.
Then she saw the fear in Lydia's face.
Richard's power had depended on hundreds of small silences.
Employees who needed salaries.
Bankers who needed accounts.
Friends who needed invitations.
People who told themselves it was not their place.
Khloe finally said,
"I wish he had told me."
Lydia nodded through tears.
"So does he."
The forensic specialist finished imaging the drive by evening.
It contained spreadsheets.
Email exports.
Payment authorizations.
And one audio file.
Harrison insisted they listen together.
Daniel's voice began first.
"I am not signing this."
Richard answered.
"You've signed worse."
"Not this."
"It's a consulting payment."
"It's six million dollars."
"Then spell consulting correctly."
Richard laughed.
Daniel did not.
"Where is it going?"
"Keystone."
"And after Keystone?"
Silence.
Daniel spoke again.
"Richard, if this is connected to the Eastbank approval, I want no part of it."
Richard's voice hardened.
"Your job is numbers."
"Do numbers."
"My name is on the authorization."
"Then enjoy how important that makes you."
A chair scraped.
Then Daniel said something that changed the entire case.
"What happens when Khloe finds out you are using her trust distributions to cover the gaps?"
Khloe stopped breathing.
Harrison froze the audio.
"Your trust distributions?"
Khloe stared at him.
"My mother left a trust."
"It pays quarterly."
"Richard said the money was being reinvested."
Mara's fingers were already moving across her keyboard.
"Which account receives it?"
Khloe told her.
Mara pulled records.
The quarterly deposits appeared.
Then disappeared.
Not all at once.
Small transfers.
Layered transfers.
Payments disguised as management fees.
Over three years, nearly seven million dollars of Khloe's separate inheritance had been redirected.
She stared at the screen.
"He stole from my mother."
Harrison's expression was icy.
"He stole from you."
"She left that money to me because she didn't trust Richard's world."
Khloe's voice broke.
"She told me to keep something that was mine."
Mara closed the laptop gently.
"Then we prove where it went."
Khloe stood.
"I want to go home."
Harrison looked at her.
"To the estate?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"I mean I want to go somewhere that feels like mine."
Harrison understood.
The next morning, he arranged a furnished apartment two blocks from his office.
Not extravagant.
Not symbolic.
Just quiet.
Khloe chose the keys herself.
She brought the baby booties.
She placed them on a small shelf beside the bed.
For the first time in years, the space around her contained nothing Richard had selected.
That afternoon, Harrison called.
"They found Daniel."
Khloe sat down immediately.
"Where?"
"A hotel near Newark Airport."
"Is he okay?"
"Physically, yes."
"Why did he disappear?"
A pause.
"Because Richard told him if he testified, Lydia would lose everything."
Khloe closed her eyes.
"Will he testify now?"
Harrison's voice turned grim.
May you like
"He says yes."
