They treated her with courtesy, asked detailed questions, and allowed her to explain the pattern she had noticed in the vendor payments.
Clara brought copies of the notes she had made before her dismissal. She had kept them in a personal notebook because she had always believed that careful documentation was part of doing her job properly.
The investigators listened.
When she finished, one of them closed her notebook and said, “Your observations are consistent with several discrepancies we’ve independently identified.”
Clara stared at her.
“So I’m not imagining it?”
“No,” the investigator replied. “The records support the concerns you raised. We still have work to do, but your report was justified.”
Clara lowered her head.
For three months, she had replayed every conversation with Richard Cole. She had wondered whether she had misunderstood the figures, whether she should have stayed silent, whether her daughter would have been better off if she had simply looked the other way.
