Chapter 6
Audrey Kent finally agreed to an interview.
Her lawyer controlled the scope.
Katherine accepted.
Audrey had worked for the Mercers long enough to remember Rowan as a teenager.
That made the conversation strange.
She kept calling him Mr. Mercer.
He told her to stop.
She did not.
Katherine asked about the night of the baby shower.
“Why did you go to Rowan’s house?”
“Genevieve instructed me to retrieve confidential foundation documents.”
“Did you know they belonged to Isolde?”
“I knew she had copies.”
“Why retrieve them without asking her?”
Audrey looked down.
“Genevieve said the documents were foundation property.”
“Why at ten forty-three at night?”
“Board meeting the next morning.”
“Why had the meeting been called?”
“Because of what happened at the shower.”
Katherine slid the timestamp across the table.
The board-meeting draft had been created at 11:14 a.m.
More than four hours before the shower.
Audrey’s expression changed.
Rowan said nothing.
Katherine continued.
“Try again.”
Audrey looked toward her lawyer.
He whispered something.
Then:
“Genevieve expected there might be a governance issue.”
“What issue?”
“She didn’t tell me.”
Katherine produced the photographer instruction.
Continuous coverage around the staircase.
Then the old legal memo about a spouse accused of financial coercion.
Audrey’s hands tightened.
“Did Genevieve expect a confrontation?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you?”
Silence.
“Audrey.”
“I knew she intended to speak to Isolde.”
“About the invoices?”
“Yes.”
“Publicly?”
“I assumed privately.”
“Near the staircase?”
“I don’t know.”
Katherine changed direction.
“Did you enter Isolde’s study four days earlier?”
Audrey closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Rowan’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
Genevieve wanted to know exactly what Isolde had copied.
Audrey photographed the blue folder.
She sent the photographs to Genevieve.
“Did you remove anything?”
“No.”
“Add anything?”
“No.”
“Why were you going back after the shower?”
Audrey hesitated.
Her lawyer advised her not to answer.
That was where the interview ended.
But the forensic review of her work tablet had already begun under a preservation agreement.
One deleted draft was recovered.
It appeared to be an email from Isolde to Genevieve.
The same million-dollar demand shown to the board.
Metadata showed the draft was created on Audrey’s tablet six days before the baby shower.
Not sent from Isolde’s account.
Not received by Genevieve.
Created as a document.
A fake.
Katherine called Rowan immediately.
“We can now prove the board screenshot was fabricated.”
Rowan’s voice became very quiet.
“By Audrey?”
“On her device.”
“Under whose instruction?”
“Not yet.”
The draft file name was:
I.M. leverage language v3.
Version three.
Meaning at least two earlier attempts may have existed.
Rowan looked at Isolde.
May you like
His mother had not merely prepared to accuse her.
Someone had written the accusation before Isolde knew she was being accused.
