A small cooling fan began to hum inside the machine, throwing a box of green light across the polished stone.

“Sub-tier payouts for Project Four were cleared through account seven-zero-two,” Brenda said, tracing a line on her tablet screen with her finger.

Nathaniel turned the black plastic knob on the side of the machine and watched the lit-up records slide across the glass.

“Stop there,” Nathaniel said.

A microfilmed image of a check appeared on the glass, with Arthur Vance’s heavy cursive signature in the corner.

The check was drawn for four thousand eight hundred dollars, but the project allocation box was empty.