Chapter 4 - Everything Was Under Her Name
We reached Harrington Medical Supply before nine.
Nina had already contacted compliance.
Security met us in the lobby.
Tasha wasn’t allowed upstairs alone.
That told me how serious things had become.
A compliance officer named Helen Ward joined us in a glass conference room.
She placed a laptop on the table.
“Ms. Brooks, your access has been temporarily suspended.”
Tasha nodded.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
Helen’s voice wasn’t cruel.
It was direct.
“Your credentials approved six questionable transfers totaling over three hundred thousand dollars.”
“Three were mine.”
“And three?”
“Not mine.”
Helen looked at Nina.
“Can she prove that?”
Nina slid over the school-program booklet from Jayden’s concert.
Then photographs.
Videos.
Parking receipts.
A timestamped family photo showing Tasha beside me at 9:47 p.m.
“The fourth approval occurred at 11:43.”
Helen studied it.
“That does not prove someone else logged in as her.”
“No,” Nina said.
“But your IT department can.”
Helen’s expression changed slightly.
She made a call.
While we waited, Tasha sat beside me.
Our knees almost touched.
Neither of us moved closer.
That distance hurt.
But I wasn’t ready to pretend otherwise.
Twenty minutes later, a man from cybersecurity entered.
He carried printed logs.
“The 11:43 approval came through remote administrator access.”
Helen frowned.
“Whose?”
“We’re still tracing.”
Tasha exhaled.
The man continued.
“But Ms. Brooks’s account was active simultaneously from a mobile device connected to her home network.”
I looked at Tasha.
“So she couldn’t have been both?”
“Technically possible.”
He shrugged.
“But unlikely.”
Helen asked, “Can you identify the administrator?”
“Not yet.”
Nina pushed the folder across.
“Then start with Adrian Cole.”
Helen’s face changed.
She knew the name.
Of course she did.
Tasha spoke.
“Northline belongs to Adrian’s wife.”
Helen looked sharply at her.
“How do you know?”
“I discovered it last week.”
“And you didn’t report it?”
Tasha lowered her eyes.
“I was collecting documentation.”
Helen stared at her.
“Why?”
Silence.
Nina said gently, “Tell her.”
Tasha swallowed.
“Because Adrian and I had an inappropriate personal relationship.”
My jaw tightened even though I already knew.
Helen’s expression went still.
“What kind?”
“We exchanged personal messages.”
“And?”
“He kissed me once.”
“Consensually?”
Tasha struggled.
“I didn’t stop it immediately.”
Helen nodded.
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“You understand why this complicates your credibility.”
“Yes.”
I watched my wife take it without defending herself.
That mattered.
An hour later, Tasha surrendered her work laptop.
Her company phone.
Her security badge.
Helen placed her on paid administrative leave pending investigation.
As we stood to leave, the cybersecurity officer returned.
“We identified the remote administrator.”
Helen asked, “Who?”
He looked at Tasha.
“Adrian Cole.”
Tasha closed her eyes.
I felt relief.
Then he added, “But there’s another issue.”
“What?”
“Mr. Cole accessed Ms. Brooks’s account using a valid secondary authentication token.”
Tasha frowned.
“I only have one.”
“Apparently not.”
Helen’s expression hardened.
Someone had deliberately registered a second device under Tasha’s credentials.
That was not an accident.
Nina asked, “When was it added?”
The technician checked.
“Three days after Ms. Brooks first approved a Northline invoice.”
I looked at Tasha.
Adrian hadn’t reacted to suspicion.
He had prepared early.
On the elevator down, Tasha began shaking.
“He planned this.”
“Yes.”
“He was going to blame me.”
“It looks that way.”
She looked at me.
“Do you believe me?”
I stared at her.
The question was bigger than fraud.
“I believe you didn’t approve those three payments.”
Pain crossed her face.
She nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Outside, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Damon?”
Adrian.
My whole body tensed.
“How did you get this number?”
“Tasha gave it to me months ago.”
I looked at her.
She closed her eyes.
Of course she had.
“What do you want?”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“By cooperating with an investigation?”
“By believing her.”
I almost laughed.
“This is your strategy?”
“You think I’m the only thing she lied about?”
My grip tightened.
“Say what you called to say.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“She wanted out of that marriage long before I touched her.”
Tasha heard him.
Her face crumpled.
Adrian continued.
“She told me you were dead weight.”
I felt the words hit.
Tasha whispered, “Damon…”
I raised my hand.
Not now.
Adrian laughed softly.
“She told me once she wished you’d just leave.”
Tasha began crying.
I forced my voice steady.
“That changes nothing about the invoices.”
“It changes whether you should destroy yourself protecting her.”
“You’re confusing two things.”
“What?”
“My marriage is my problem.”
I looked at Tasha.
“Your fraud is yours.”
The line went quiet.
Then Adrian’s tone hardened.
“You have no idea what she signed.”
“So you keep saying.”
“When this blows up, she’ll need someone to blame.”
“Then you should probably get a lawyer.”
I ended the call.
Tasha stared at me.
“I did say those things.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
She wiped her face.
“I said I wished you would leave.”
My chest hurt.
“When?”
“After we fought about money.”
I nodded slowly.
“At least you’re telling me now.”
“I’m sorry.”
I looked toward the parking lot.
“Right now, I don’t know what happens to us.”
She covered her mouth.
“But I know what happens next.”
“What?”
“We tell the truth.”
Every part.
Even the parts that made her look bad.
Even the parts that made me feel humiliated.
Tasha nodded.
That evening, Monica came to our house.
She carried her phone.
“I saved something.”
Tasha frowned.
“What?”
“Adrian sent me messages last night.”
Monica opened them.
WHERE IS TASHA?
DOES SHE HAVE THE FILE?
DID SHE TELL DAMON?
Then one final message.
IF SHE TURNS ON ME, SHE GOES DOWN FIRST.
Nina forwarded everything to compliance.
The next morning, Harrington’s internal investigators searched Adrian’s corporate office.
At noon, Helen called.
“Tasha, we found evidence of unauthorized access.”
Tasha gripped the phone.
“Is that good?”
“For you, potentially.”
Helen paused.
“But we also found something in Adrian’s desk.”
“What?”
“A signed disclosure document.”
My stomach tightened.
Helen continued.
“It states that you knew Northline belonged to his wife.”
Tasha went white.
“I never signed that.”
“There’s a signature.”
“It isn’t mine.”
Helen’s voice remained careful.
“Then we need to determine whose it is.”
Tasha asked, “What happens now?”
Helen exhaled.
“We send it for forensic review.”
May you like
Then she said the sentence that made everything worse again.
“And until we know, the company is referring the entire matter to federal investigators.”
