The Auditor Put Both Versions Beneath The Same Desk Lamp

"I didn't write it," I said.

Farid placed a clear sleeve over the unsigned page. He had treated my old agreement with the same care. I liked that he did not save caution for things that helped me.

"Was this ever offered to you?" he asked.

"No."

June pointed to the date at the bottom.

"Ten days ago. Lucien was on a survey boat that day."

"That doesn't prove he never saw it," Farid said. "I'll ask for the full record."

He asked Brackwater's document manager, Bea Lin, to join by video. She came on with a pencil behind her ear and a red mark on her cheek from a headset.

"I uploaded what Preston sent," she said. "The folder said final."

"Did you receive signed pages?"

"Only for the old agreement."

She searched while we waited. I heard her chair wheels roll across the floor.

Then an email appeared on Farid's screen. Preston had sent Bea the replacement page with one sentence: Use this clean version; old limitations no longer apply.

"Did he attach an approval from me?" I asked.

"No," Bea said. "I asked if legal had checked it."

Her next email was short. Preston's reply was shorter.

I handle founder matters.

Farid saved the whole thread, with its dates and attachments.

"Thank you," he told her. "Please keep the originals."

"Should I replace the page in the folder?" Bea asked.

"Add the signed version and mark the other one disputed," he said. "Keep a record of the change."

She wrote that down. It took less than a minute. I had spent the night fearing that someone would erase the trail. Now the person who managed the folder had clear instructions to keep it.

Bea looked at me through the screen.

"I thought you knew."

"I didn't."

She pressed her lips together, then nodded.

At eleven, Preston arrived with Brackwater's outside lawyer, Owen Price. Preston carried no binder. Owen carried two.

"This is a draft cleanup," Preston said before sitting. "We're wasting a closing day on old forms."

"Whose draft?" Farid asked.

"Mine."

"Who accepted it?"

"The company has used that library for seven years."

"Under which document?"

Preston took off his glasses.

"Lucien was paid a salary."

I let him finish. Outside, a truck backed toward a loading dock. Its beeps filled the space between us.

Owen opened my employment agreement.

"The invention clause is broad," he said.

June turned to its last page.

"Read the exception."

He did, silently at first. Then Farid asked him to read it aloud.

"Subject to retained property listed in Schedule C of the founding agreement."

Preston tapped the table.

Three quick knocks.

I thought of the pier, of the small pause before the water went quiet. I kept my hands in my lap.

"You told them I labeled recordings," I said. "I owned the practice that made these. You signed for a limited license. I need the sale papers to say that."

"You want to hold the deal hostage."

"I want the buyer to know what it's buying."

Owen asked for a break. He and Preston left the room. Through the frosted glass, I saw Owen hold up a page while Preston waved both arms.

Farid asked me for invoices from the original surveys.

"You already heard the masters," I said.

"The sound helps show the source. The bills help show who paid. I need both."

I sent copies from my practice records. Boat hire, fuel, gear rental, and a repair bill for a cracked cable housing. The costs totaled $42,680 over three years.

One bill had my handwritten note: Rain day. No useful data. Pay captain anyway.

Farid paused there.

"You kept the failed days."

"They cost money too."

He entered them with the rest.

By lunch, the buyer had canceled its wire request. It reserved the right to walk away. The sellers had six weeks to answer the audit questions under a signed extension.

I ate soup at June's office while she made a list of what I needed.

"Accuracy first," I said. "No backdated sale approval. No paper that turns me into their labeling contractor."

"And your approved expenses?"

Brackwater still owed me $18,460 for boat and field costs I had covered. Finance had approved them before Preston stopped payment.

"Those too."

She added the amount, with the receipts behind it.

At three, Preston sent a message saying I would be personally responsible for any lost purchase price.

I forwarded it to June. I did not answer him.

Then Farid sent another email. His subject line was only a customer name: Severn Reach Towage.

Attached was a $240,000 invoice for twelve navigation units. It called the reference library fully cleared for commercial use.

The shipment date was six days earlier.

Below the invoice, Farid had written: Their operations manager is on the phone. Were you told these had been sold?