Arthur told Julian to deposit forty-two thousand dollars into that account out of his own firm’s balance.

Arthur wrote that forty-two thousand dollars sitting in an account under David’s name would create an instant conflict of interest.

If David tried to file the grand jury report, the paper trail would make it look as if he’d taken a private payout from the very contractor he was auditing.

I drew out the plastic sleeve that held the bank confirmation receipt from the third drawer.

The bank slip matched the forty-two-thousand-dollar unposted deposit receipt I’d found tucked in the kitchen desk drawer two days earlier.