Chapter 5: The Man Who Visited
Carol came back into the storage room and closed the door behind her.
"Financial crimes can send someone tomorrow morning," she said.
"I told them we have documentation in hand and two individuals present who have direct knowledge of the scheme."
"Tomorrow," Mason said.
"They're short-staffed.
It's the best I could do on short notice."
Brandon heard this and something in his posture shifted.
Not relief exactly.
Calculation.
"I want to make a statement," he said.
Carol looked at Mason.
Mason nodded.
"Go ahead," Carol said.
Brandon leaned forward.
"I didn't sign that contract.
I've never heard of Crestline Provisions.
Someone used my name." He paused.
"And I think I know who."
"Then say it," Mason said.
"Derek Soll worked here.
Two years ago.
He was a purchasing coordinator.
You fired him."
Mason went still.
"I fired him?"
"Your operations director did.
On your behalf.
Derek had been inflating purchase orders in the dry goods department.
Small amounts.
Spread across a lot of vendors.
It was caught during a routine audit." Brandon's voice was steady now, almost rehearsed.
"He blamed me for reporting it.
We had an argument in the parking lot the day he left.
He said he'd find a way to make things right."
"Make things right," Carol repeated.
"Meaning make things even."
"Yes."
Mason looked at the signature again.
One letter different.
Careful enough to pass a quick review.
Deliberate enough to survive longer than that.
"If that's true," Mason said, "then Soll set up a ghost company, forged your name onto supplier contracts, and ran the scheme through this hotel using your position as cover."
"Yes."
"And Joanne Parker found it."
Brandon's face changed.
Just slightly.
"I didn't know about Joanne until today.
I swear that."
"You told her she was fired for theft."
"Gerald handled that.
I signed what Gerald put in front of me.
He said she'd been taking food home.
I had no reason to—" Brandon stopped.
He seemed to understand how that sounded.
"I should have asked more questions.
I know that."
"She lost her job," Mason said.
"She lost her income.
She had a stroke six weeks later.
Her thirteen-year-old daughter came to this hotel this morning asking for bread."
Brandon said nothing.
"And the man who actually ran this scheme walked into her hospital room three weeks ago and stood in the doorway watching her sleep."
The room was quiet.
Carol set her pen down.
"Mr.
Cole, if what you're telling us is accurate, you are still liable for signing fraudulent documents without due diligence.
That does not disappear because someone else originated the scheme.
But your cooperation now will matter."
Brandon nodded slowly.
"Where does Derek Soll live?" Mason asked.
"I don't know.
I haven't spoken to him since the parking lot."
"But you recognized his name the moment Carol said it."
Brandon's eyes dropped.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you say something then?"
"Because I wasn't sure what I was walking into."
Mason looked at him for a long moment.
Then he turned to Carol.
"Can we get Soll's last known address from the termination records?"
"I can request it from HR within the hour."
"Do that." Mason picked up his phone.
He scrolled to a number he rarely used — the direct line for his operations director, a man named Frank Delgado, who had been with the company for eleven years and who had personally handled Derek Soll's termination.
Frank answered on the second ring.
"Frank.
I need you to pull the Derek Soll file.
Everything.
Termination report, the audit findings, any contact information we have."
A pause.
"Mason?
Is everything alright?"
"Not yet." Mason looked at the six pages on the shelf.
"Pull the file and call me back.
And Frank — did Soll ever threaten anyone after he left?
Formally or otherwise?"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"There was one thing," Frank said.
"He sent an email about a month after he was let go.
I forwarded it to legal at the time.
They said it wasn't actionable."
"What did it say?"
Frank was quiet for a moment.
Then: "He said he knew how this company worked from the inside.
And that if we thought one audit had stopped anything, we were wrong."
Mason set his hand flat on the shelf.
He had thought this was about Brandon Cole and a supplier scheme.
It wasn't.
It had never been only that.
Derek Soll had come back.
He had used the hotel from the outside, forged a name onto contracts, built a ghost company, and waited.
And when a cook named Joanne Parker had gotten close enough to see it, someone had made sure she disappeared quietly.
Mason looked at Lily through the small window in the storage room door.
She was sitting on the bench again, her backpack on her lap, waiting.
He had one more question for Frank.
He almost didn't want to ask it.
"Frank.
When Soll was terminated.
Who else in the building knew the details of what he'd done?"
The pause this time was the longest yet.
"Gerald Pruitt sat in on the exit meeting," Frank said.
May you like
"He was assistant manager at the time.
He took the notes."
