Chapter Three — Meridian
1558 Words
Three days after her interview with Adrian Blackwood, Elena Vale was still thinking about him.
She told herself it was because of the investigation.
That was the sensible explanation.
Adrian was difficult, guarded, and frustratingly confident. Every answer he gave seemed to create another question, and every time Elena remembered the interview, she found herself remembering his voice along with his words.
She disliked that.
She disliked him.
At least, that was what she kept telling herself.
Elena sat at her desk with Adrian Blackwood’s interview notes open in front of her.
Maya Bennett dropped into the chair beside her.
“You’re reading his interview again.”
Elena didn’t look up.
“I’m reviewing my notes.”
“You reviewed them yesterday.”
“They’re important.”
“You’ve reviewed them three times.”
Elena finally looked at her.
“Are you keeping count?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re behaving strangely.”
“I am not.”
Maya smiled.
“You’re thinking about him.”
“I’m thinking about the investigation.”
“Same thing?”
“No.”
Maya studied her face.
“You’re sure?”
Elena closed the notebook.
“I’m sure.”
Before Maya could answer, someone from the front desk appeared.
“Elena?”
She looked up.
“Yes?”
“There’s something for you.”
The person placed a plain brown package on her desk.
Elena frowned.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Who delivered it?”
“I don’t know. It was left at reception.”
“Was there a name?”
“No.”
Elena looked at the package.
Maya leaned closer.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena turned it over.
There was no return address.
No name.
Nothing except her own name written across the front.
ELENA VALE
Maya’s playful expression disappeared.
“Open it.”
Elena looked at her.
“You just told me I was strange for thinking about Adrian.”
“And now I’m telling you to open the mystery package.”
Elena gave her a look.
Maya shrugged.
“It’s your job.”
Elena carefully opened the package.
Inside was a thick stack of financial records.
She pulled out the first page.
At the top was a name she didn’t recognize.
MERIDIAN HOLDINGS
Elena’s expression changed.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She placed the papers across her desk.
Maya leaned over them.
“What are those?”
“Financial records.”
“From?”
“Meridian Holdings.”
Maya frowned.
“Never heard of it.”
“Neither have I.”
Elena turned the first page.
There were transaction records.
Dates.
Amounts.
Account numbers.
Company names.
Payments.
Her eyes moved quickly across the page.
Then she stopped.
“Wait.”
Maya looked at her.
“What?”
Elena pointed toward a series of payments.
“Look at these.”
Maya bent closer.
“What am I looking at?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Government officials.”
Maya’s eyebrows rose.
“And these amounts?”
“Millions.”
The room suddenly seemed quieter.
Elena picked up another page.
Then another.
The same name appeared repeatedly.
Meridian Holdings.
She checked the dates.
Her eyes narrowed.
“These are old.”
“How old?”
Elena checked again.
“Years.”
Maya looked at her.
“How many?”
Elena searched through the documents.
“They go back years before Adrian became CEO.”
Neither woman spoke for a moment.
Maya broke the silence.
“So what does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“But Blackwood International is connected to Meridian?”
“That’s what I need to find out.”
Elena’s heart began beating faster.
This was different from the rumors.
Rumors could be dismissed.
These were records.
Documents.
Numbers.
Transactions.
Something real.
She looked at Adrian’s photograph sitting beside her computer.
For a moment, the memory of their interview returned.
You came here believing I’m guilty.
Elena had told him she didn’t.
Now she wasn’t so sure what to believe.
Maya noticed where she was looking.
“You’re thinking about him again.”
Elena looked back at the documents.
“No.”
Maya gave her a knowing smile.
“Elena.”
“This isn’t about Adrian.”
“Then why are you looking at his photograph?”
“Because he’s the CEO of the company.”
“Right.”
Elena gathered the papers.
“I need to verify this.”
“Are you publishing?”
“No.”
Maya looked surprised.
“You have records showing millions going to government officials.”
“I don’t know where they came from.”
“But…”
“I don’t publish documents simply because someone leaves them on my desk.”
Maya nodded slowly.
“That makes sense.”
Elena placed the records into a folder.
“I need to know whether they’re genuine.”
“And if they are?”
Elena looked at the folder.
“Then I find out what Meridian Holdings has to do with Blackwood International.”
She closed the folder.
For the first time since Richard had given her the assignment, Elena felt as though she had finally found something worth following.
And somewhere inside her, she knew Adrian Blackwood was going to become impossible to ignore.
Elena stayed late that evening.
Most of the newsroom had emptied by the time Maya finally approached her desk.
“You’re still here.”
Elena didn’t look away from her computer.
“I need to finish something.”
“You’ve been saying that for two hours.”
“I know.”
Maya placed a coffee beside her.
“Drink.”
Elena glanced at it.
“Thank you.”
Maya looked at the folder beside Elena.
“Still working on Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“What have you found?”
“Not enough.”
“You said that earlier.”
“I know.”
Elena opened another record.
“I’ve been comparing the dates.”
“And?”
“The transactions aren’t random.”
Maya leaned closer.
“What do you mean?”
“They repeat.”
“Same amounts?”
“Different amounts.”
“Same people?”
“Some of them.”
Maya frowned.
“So there is a pattern.”
“There might be.”
Elena leaned back.
“That’s why I can’t publish yet.”
Maya nodded.
“You need to know what you’re looking at.”
“Exactly.”
Elena opened the interview notes from Adrian’s meeting.
Her eyes stopped on one line.
Blackwood International has been accused of using political connections to secure government contracts.
She looked from the sentence to the Meridian records.
Then back again.
Maya noticed.
“You think they’re connected.”
“I think I need to find out if they’re connected.”
“And Adrian?”
Elena was quiet.
“What about him?”
“You interviewed him.”
“Yes.”
“You asked him about corruption.”
“Yes.”
“And he denied it.”
“Yes.”
Maya smiled faintly.
“Do you believe him?”
Elena looked down at the documents.
“I don’t know.”
It was the first time she had admitted it aloud.
She didn’t know.
Adrian’s confidence during the interview had made him difficult to read. He had been defensive, but not careless. Arrogant, but not dishonest.
At least, she hadn’t caught him lying.
Elena closed the folder.
“I need more.”
Maya nodded.
“You always do.”
Elena smiled slightly.
“That’s why I’m still here.”
Maya stood.
“Go home soon.”
“I will.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“I meant it yesterday.”
Maya laughed.
“You’re impossible.”
After Maya left, Elena remained alone with the records.
She picked up the first document again.
The earliest transactions were dated years before Adrian Blackwood had become CEO.
She checked the dates twice.
Then a third time.
Her finger rested against the page.
“What are you?”
She wasn’t sure whether she was speaking to the document or to the mystery behind it.
Elena looked toward Adrian’s photograph.
She remembered his eyes.
His controlled expression.
The way he had told her journalists wanted victims instead of answers.
She remembered how irritated she had been.
She also remembered the strange moment when their eyes had met and neither had immediately looked away.
Elena shook the thought from her mind.
This was work.
Nothing else.
She returned to the documents.
The records showed millions moving through Meridian Holdings, including suspicious payments connected to government officials.
And those transactions had begun years before Adrian became CEO.
That fact mattered.
She just didn’t know why yet.
Elena reached for her notebook and wrote one sentence:
Find the connection between Meridian Holdings and Blackwood International.
She stared at it.
Then she added:
Verify everything.
She closed the notebook.
She would not publish the records yet.
She would not accuse Adrian Blackwood.
She would not let her personal opinion decide what the evidence meant.
But as Elena placed the documents back into the folder, one thought refused to leave her mind.
Whatever was happening inside Blackwood International was beginning to look much bigger than the rumors surrounding Adrian Blackwood.
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