Chapter 26 - The Auditor’s Desk
By Monday morning, the fallout from Mark Vance’s arrest had settled into the cold, methodical rhythm of federal compliance. Agent Miller’s team had spent the weekend tearing through the unindexed Cayman server, extracting every encrypted file, shell company ledger, and proxy signature tied to Arthur Vance’s final extraction plan.
I was sitting at my desk reviewing the preliminary asset forfeiture schedules when Chloe knocked twice and walked in, holding a slim manila folder that looked entirely unremarkable.
"Agent Miller’s office just couriered this over," Chloe said, setting the folder down next to my laptop. "It’s the decrypted forensic summary of Mark’s private digital wallet. Turns out the Cayman shell wasn't just hiding old kickbacks."
I looked up, my pen pausing over the notepad. "What else was it hiding?"
"Communication logs," Chloe said, her expression tightening. "Not between Mark and Arthur. Between Mark and a secondary corporate entity registered in Delaware three weeks ago—right after the initial bankruptcy proceedings began. The entity is called Meridian Ridge LLC."
The name scraped against my memory like a dry wheel. "Meridian Ridge. Isn't that the shell company that tried to acquire the Baltimore freight yards before our automated grid took over?"
"The very same," Chloe confirmed, leaning against the edge of the desk. "And according to the transaction metadata in Mark’s files, he didn't set it up alone. He had backing from someone inside Aster Vale’s own upper management—someone who still has signing authority over our regional vendor accounts."
A cold spike of adrenaline cleared away the lingering comfort of the weekend. "Who?"
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"That’s the catch," Chloe said grimly. "The administrative key used to authorize Meridian Ridge’s transfer requests was signed off under an active executive ID. An ID that hasn't been flagged by federal oversight yet."
"Run a secure trace on every active credential in the building," I said, standing up immediately. "I want a full access log on my desk in ten minutes."
