Chapter 6 - LOCKER SEVENTEEN
Old South Yard smelled like rust, wet concrete, and years nobody wanted to remember.
Adrian brought Naomi and two independent investigators.
Locker seventeen sat behind a row of obsolete testing equipment.
Alice's key opened it.
Inside were three waterproof cases.
Daniel had kept copies.
Concrete core results.
Photos of cracked test cylinders.
Invoices linking Caldwell Materials to a shell supplier named North Beacon Logistics.
And emails from Richard's office ordering engineers to accept "equivalent substitutions" without delaying the schedule.
Naomi read one twice.
"This is criminal exposure."
Adrian looked at the date.
The substitution had started two years before Daniel's death.
"How many projects?"
They found the list.
Harbor Point.
A municipal parking structure.
Two apartment towers.
A public elementary school addition currently under construction.
Adrian called the school superintendent immediately.
"Stop work. Now."
Naomi warned him.
"We don't know the materials are unsafe."
"Then nobody pours another ounce until we do."
His phone rang before they left the yard.
Richard.
Adrian answered.
"You shut down the Hawthorne School job?"
"Yes."
"On whose authority?"
"Mine."
Richard's voice sharpened.
"You are creating panic over unverified documents."
Adrian looked at Daniel's photographs.
"Funny. I never told you I found documents."
Silence.
One second.
Two.
Then Richard said, "Come to the office. We need to talk privately."
"No."
"Adrian."
"Did you offer Daniel five million dollars?"
The line went quiet again.
Richard finally said, "Your father made mistakes. Don't destroy the company trying to correct all of them in one day."
"That wasn't my question."
Richard hung up.
Naomi's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
"We have another problem."
"What?"
"Someone just accessed Marissa Keane's personnel file from the executive floor."
Adrian turned.
"Who?"
May you like
Naomi showed him.
RICHARD WHITMORE - ADMIN OVERRIDE.
