Lars came in without knocking.
That was how Roman knew it was serious. Lars always knocked. Four years, every time, regardless of what he was carrying. He came through the office door on a Wednesday morning without knocking and set a single printed page on Roman's desk and stood back.
Roman read it.
He read it twice. He put it down.
"How certain?" he said.
"Certain enough that I came in without knocking," Lars said.
Roman looked at the page again. Harrington. Edward Harrington, fourteen years on the Ashford Global board. Longest-serving member. The kind of man Roman had trusted with the reflexive confidence you built toward someone over a decade of working beside them without a single reason to look closer.
"When did Aldric get to him?" Roman asked.
"We don't know yet. The first do
