Chapter 11 - Thirty-Nine Thousand Two Hundred DollarsThe foundation board met on Thursday evening in a conference room behind the public library.
Kayla and Walter weren't invited into the private portion of the meeting.
Rebecca had explained why.
The board needed to review financial records, discuss confidential information, and decide whether to retain an independent forensic accountant.
But she had arranged for Kayla and Walter to speak first.
Walter wore a freshly pressed white shirt.
He had bought it years earlier for Monique's funeral.
Kayla wanted to tell him to wear something else.
Then she realized that would mean asking him to hide the truth of how much this mattered.
So she said nothing.
At six thirty, Rebecca opened the meeting.
Four independent directors sat around the table.
Denise and Henry had been notified of the meeting but weren't present for the initial witness statements.
Walter placed his documents in front of the board.
His original administrative statement.
The stamped deposit receipt.
Photographs of the auditorium ramp.
A timeline of his reports to maintenance.
He explained everything without raising his voice.
When he finished, Rebecca asked a simple question.
"Mr. Reed, did you ever take scholarship money for personal use?"
"No, ma'am."
"Did you remove the deposit envelope from the foundation office?"
"No."
"Did you knowingly sign a confession admitting theft?"
Walter looked directly at her.
"Absolutely not."
Kayla spoke next.
She explained the edited videos and her conversation with Julian.
She also acknowledged that she'd publicly identified his reflection before an independent expert reviewed it.
"I believed what I said," she told the directors. "But I understand that belief isn't the same as proof."
Rebecca nodded.
"Thank you for being clear."
Kayla swallowed.
"I'm not asking you to believe me because I cried at graduation."
She looked around the table.
"I'm asking you to check the records."
Afterward, they waited outside.
Through the closed door, Kayla heard raised voices but couldn't make out the words.
Nearly two hours passed.
Then Rebecca came into the hallway.
"The board voted to hire an independent forensic accountant."
Walter exhaled.
"And my granddaughter's scholarship?"
"The award remains reserved, but disbursement is still pending until the committee can establish that the restricted funds are available."
Kayla nodded.
She didn't like it.
But she understood.
Rebecca sat beside them.
"There's something you should see."
She opened a folder containing records the independent directors had authorized her to discuss with the affected scholarship applicant and the reporting witness.
Two invoices were visible.
Both came from a company called North Gate Restoration LLC.
The first invoice was for $18,600.
The second was for $20,600.
Together, $39,200.
The descriptions claimed completed work on auditorium flooring, accessibility handrails, and electrical improvements.
Walter examined the dates.
He shook his head.
"These are the exact weeks I complained that nothing was being fixed."
Rebecca pointed toward the second invoice.
"The foundation's preliminary ledger shows the payment was charged to Monique's restricted scholarship fund."
Kayla frowned.
"Could they legally do that?"
"Not for unrelated building expenses without appropriate donor authorization or a legally valid restriction modification," Rebecca said. "And no such authorization has been found."
Kayla studied the number.
"How much money was supposed to be in the account?"
"The records show sixty-eight thousand four hundred dollars in restricted donations before these disputed expenditures."
Walter rubbed his forehead.
"Forty thousand gone."
"Thirty-nine thousand two hundred in the two payments we're reviewing," Rebecca corrected gently.
Kayla pointed at another line.
"What about the missing nine thousand four hundred?"
Rebecca looked at the original stamped deposit receipt.
"The bank confirmation associated with that deposit appears to show the full amount received. The accountant is verifying it directly."
Walter shut his eyes.
The accusation that had humiliated him might never have involved missing money at all.
Rebecca continued.
"If the bank confirms the deposit, and the contractor payments were improper, we'll have two separate accounting problems: a false claim of missing cash and unauthorized spending."
Kayla looked at the invoices again.
"Who is North Gate Restoration?"
"That's one of the questions the accountant is examining."
She slid a copy of the company's public-facing invoice header toward them.
There was an address.
A business registration number.
And a contact telephone number.
Walter frowned.
"I've never seen anybody from this company at school."
Kayla photographed only the public company information Rebecca permitted her to retain.
Later that night, she searched the state's business registration website.
North Gate Restoration existed.
It had been established three years earlier.
Its registered address was a downtown office suite.
Kayla clicked through to the publicly listed management information.
The company's managing entity was another business.
Mercer Holdings Group.
She stared at the name.
Her aunt's last name.
Julian's last name.
Henry's last name.
But that alone didn't prove who controlled the money.
Kayla called Angela.
"I found something."
After listening, Angela told her to preserve the publicly available records and avoid contacting the company.
Then she asked one question.
"Kayla, do you know whether Henry Mercer has any ownership interest in Mercer Holdings Group?"
Kayla looked at the screen.
"No."
May you like
Angela's voice became measured.
"Then that's the next fact we need to establish."
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