“Then tonight,” she said, “is the perfect chance to clear it up.”

Chapter 12 — The Records

The first document appeared on the screen behind her, blown up large enough for the back row.

It showed a series of payments from Beckworth Urban Development to a consulting company registered in Seraphine Ashby’s name.

More followed — inflated construction invoices, unauthorized loans, altered reports, company money redirected into private accounts.

A low current of conversation began to move through the ballroom, the sound of two hundred people all doing the same math at once.