Nolan Cress was not the shadowy figure Desmond expected.

He was a tidy man in his late forties who wore inexpensive glasses and spoke in dull sentences about financial optimization.

His talent had been persuading people not to look closely at dull sentences.

The auditors discovered that he had billed Ashcroft subsidiaries for work performed by no one, then moved portions of the proceeds through Halcyon and two overseas consultancies.

Several payments coincided with Vivian’s acquisition of properties in a relative’s name.