Chapter 6 - The Company Had Been Paying Ghosts for Years
Edward hired outside forensic accountants.
Not employees who answered to him.
Not the internal compliance department.
Outside counsel retained them so the review could proceed independently.
What they found was ugly.
Piedmont Fleet Safety was only one vendor.
There were six.
Vehicle inspection.
Warehouse access control.
Emergency-response consulting.
Cybersecurity.
Insurance-loss prevention.
Several had real offices.
Real employees.
Real services.
And inflated invoices.
Others appeared almost entirely hollow.
Money traveled through subcontractors.
Then LLCs.
Then consulting entities.
Eventually portions reached companies connected to:
Wade Mercer.
And Nolan Price.
Caswell Urban Systems’ chief financial officer.
Nolan had worked for Edward’s father.
Then Edward.
Twenty-two years.
He had approved Elena’s termination.
Edward looked physically ill when he told her.
“My father signed the dismissal.”
Mom answered:
“Your father signed what Nolan put in front of him.”
“That doesn't excuse him.”
“No.”
It was one of the reasons she eventually trusted Edward enough to keep speaking.
He did not ask her to make his family history cleaner than it was.
Then investigators examined the morning Benji was taken.
Nolan had scheduled the board meeting.
He insisted Edward attend in person.
Subject:
A major refinancing proposal.
The company had recently discovered unexplained cash-flow pressure.
Nolan presented the refinancing as urgent.
Now they knew why cash was tight.
Someone had been draining money for years.
But abducting Benji still seemed irrational.
Until police found Wade’s second phone.
There was one unsent draft:
HE’S IN POSITION. WAIT UNTIL E.C. SIGNS.
Who was E.C.?
Edward Caswell.
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The kidnapping had been tied to the board meeting.
The question was how.
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