April: three “site visits” that produced no reports.

May: late transfers just under the threshold that would have triggered an automatic secondary review.

June: Chloe Ruiz’s name on invoices with vague deliverables and first-class travel attached.

July: the forged authorizations.

August: the night he packed the safe.

I had lived through all of it in real time and still, looking at the dates in a row, I felt the old temptation to explain him kindly.

He was under pressure.