Chapter 4 - Salvage Reserve
Richard called me before Dana could explain more.
This time I answered because I wanted to hear his voice.
"You knew about Salvage Reserve."
He did not ask how I knew.
That was enough.
"It's legitimate."
"Then why is it hidden?"
"It isn't hidden. It's restricted."
"That's a nicer word."
Richard sighed.
"Two years ago we had a flood of damaged freight claims. Returns. Rejected pallets. Abandoned inventory. We set up a warehouse to hold material until claims were settled."
"Why does it appear on shipments that weren't damaged?"
"It shouldn't."
"Six of my exception pages say otherwise."
He went quiet.
I continued.
"Did you ever read the folder I tried to give you?"
"No."
"Of course not."
"Emily, this is not the time."
"It was the time at ten twenty this morning."
Erica took the phone from me.
"Richard, Northstar wants the address."
He gave it.
An industrial building outside Aurora.
Northstar's security team and local authorities went there.
I did not.
I waited in a conference room drinking bad coffee and staring at my twenty-three pages.
At 2:16, Erica's phone rang.
She listened.
Her face changed.
"What?"
I stood.
"They found the missing trailer."
Relief hit first.
Then Erica continued.
"It's empty."
My relief vanished.
"Empty?"
"Cargo gone."
Richard arrived thirty minutes later with Dana and Trevor.
Trevor looked annoyed, not frightened.
That bothered me.
"This is getting ridiculous," he said. "We have a theft. Let security handle it."
I held up the folder.
"Why do six normal loads in my records touch Salvage Reserve?"
"Because your records are incomplete."
"Then complete them."
He smiled.
"You're not an employee anymore."
Richard snapped, "Trevor."
I almost laughed.
That morning, the same sentence had ended the conversation.
Now Richard needed me to keep talking.
Dana put a photograph on the table.
The Salvage Reserve warehouse.
Rows of merchandise inside.
Not crushed boxes.
Not water-damaged pallets.
New goods.
Sealed cartons.
Erica stared at Richard.
"Some of that is ours."
Richard went pale.
Trevor said, "Customer returns can look new."
Erica pointed at a pallet label.
"That product line launched nine days ago. We have had no returns."
Silence.
I looked at Richard.
"You said this was for damaged freight."
"It is."
"Then why is new Northstar inventory sitting there?"
He had no answer.
Trevor did.
"Because Richard approved temporary inventory advances through Salvage Reserve during cash shortfalls."
Richard turned toward him.
"What did you just say?"
Trevor leaned back.
"Don't do that now."
I watched them.
The problem was no longer whether Trevor had betrayed Richard.
The problem was that Trevor clearly believed Richard had already betrayed himself.
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