Chapter 7 - The Words on Ruben's Recording
Ruben gave the recording to the investigators handling the theft.
I heard a copy only after Northstar's counsel approved it.
Trevor's voice was clear enough.
"Emily's gone. Use her until midnight."
Then another voice answered through his phone.
Too muffled to identify.
Trevor said, "Richard won't look at the line items. He never does."
Richard walked out of the room when he heard that.
Nobody followed.
I almost did.
Old habit.
Someone needed to keep Richard functional.
Then I remembered I did not work for him.
Dana went instead.
The incident team compared Trevor's activity with Westfield sales.
The pattern was ugly.
But the current theft still had a missing piece.
The empty trailer contained no sign of where the $3.6 million in product had gone.
Erica asked whether I recognized the temporary destination name in the reroute.
HARRISON ANNEX 4.
I did not.
Dana did.
"We used to own a warehouse with that internal name."
Richard returned.
"Closed five years ago."
"Where?"
He gave the address.
Northstar security checked property records.
The building had been sold.
Then leased back eighteen months earlier.
Tenant:
Harrison Logistics.
Richard stared at the screen.
"No."
Dana said, "Accounts payable shows rent."
"Who approved it?"
She looked uncomfortable.
"Your executive cost center."
Richard swore.
"Trevor has delegated spend authority under my center."
Again.
A system designed around trust.
A boss who hated details.
A vice president who understood exactly how useful that was.
Authorities searched the old Annex 4 under proper process later that evening.
The missing Northstar product was there.
All of it.
So were years of records.
Auction sheets.
Customer claims.
Photographs of merchandise before it was labeled damaged.
And a stack of handwritten quarter-end notes.
Some were Trevor's.
Some were Richard's.
One from two years earlier said:
Need $1.2M cash by Friday. Reserve whatever can move.
Richard stared at his handwriting.
"I wrote that."
Erica asked, "What did you mean?"
"Liquidate legitimate salvage."
"Did you verify what moved?"
He closed his eyes.
"No."
I finally understood why he had fired me so quickly.
Maybe he had not known about the current theft.
But he had known what happened every time I asked questions.
Numbers slowed down.
Promises got harder.
His own ignorance became harder to maintain.
I looked at him.
"You didn't fire me because I was wrong."
Richard did not answer.
"You fired me because I kept making you look."
He sat down.
Then whispered, "Yes."
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