He believed the account held his money.

It did not.

When Verena first told me that vendors were being pressured to pad their invoices, I had gone quietly to my attorneys, and we had done something careful: we had funded that account ourselves, with a traceable reserve — money designed from the first dollar to be followed.

“Which contracts?” I asked her.

“All of them.”

“And the commissions?”

Her eyes narrowed at the word.

She had not expected the housekeeper’s employer to know that word.

I took out my phone and called our general counsel, Quentin Ledbetter, and put him on the speaker so the whole foyer could hear.

“We have confirmation,” I told him.