The missing documents arrived on the tenth day, but they created more questions than they answered.
Several invoices had been recreated recently.
Approval logs contained gaps.
One vendor contract carried a signature dated on a day when the supposed signer was outside the country.
The company’s longtime controller was required to give evidence.
She entered the deposition room pale and nervous.
Wallace sat across from her, watching every movement.
At first, she repeated his explanation: North Quay was a confidential consulting partner, and the overseas account handled international expenses.
My attorney placed three payment authorizations in front of her.
“Who instructed you to process these?”
She looked at Wallace.
He leaned forward.
“Answer the question,” his own attorney said.
“Wallace did.”
“Did you receive supporting invoices before making the payments?”
“Sometimes afterward.”
“Did North Quay provide reports, research, or other work product?”
“I never saw any.”
Wallace interrupted.
“She didn’t need to see it.
That work was handled at the executive level.”
The controller flinched.
My attorney turned toward Wallace.
“You will have your opportunity to testify.”
Wallace sat back, but the damage was done.
He had confirmed personal knowledge of a vendor he had previously described as routine and outside his control.
The controller then produced something neither side expected.
Months earlier, she had questioned one of the transfers.
Wallace had responded by email, directing her to divide future payments among three expense categories so they would not attract attention during quarterly review.
He had written, Keep each line below the internal reporting threshold.
The room became silent.
Wallace’s father closed his eyes.
Wallace attacked immediately.
“That email is being misinterpreted.
We divide expenses all the time.”
“Why did you mention the reporting threshold?” his father asked.
Wallace turned on him.
“Because I run the company while you sit at home pretending your name still matters.”
The cruelty came out before he could stop it.
His father stared at him as if seeing a stranger.
Wallace tried to recover.
“This is exactly what she wanted,” he said, pointing at me.
“She’s bitter because I left her.
She has been sitting in someone’s spare room pretending to be an auditor again.”
I opened my notebook.
“I don’t need to pretend.”
For the first time since the deposition began, he looked directly at me.
I explained the payment sequence without drama.
North Quay billed the company.
Wallace authorized the payment.
Funds moved through the clearing account.
Related sums entered the overseas account.
Personal expenses were then paid from cards connected to that account.
The dates matched.
The amounts matched.
The authorization codes matched.
