How far back can Nexora pull internal access records? Evelyn looked confused. Why? And stock movement, product delays. Anything that happened before your bad announcements.
Malcolm, what are you thinking? I don't know yet. He looked at her carefully. Trevor met Russell Dayne at Meridian more than once. A lot more than once.
Evelyn's expression sharpened. Did you hear them discuss Nexora? No. And I'm not going to pretend I did. Malcolm grabbed his jacket, but Trevor thought I was furniture. Men like him talk differently around furniture.
Evelyn called Adrien back. This time, Malcolm listened while Adrien asked disciplined questions. Dates, reservation records, receipts, guest logs, internal access history, product delay timelines, board document activity, trading patterns that Nexora's compliance group could legally review. Malcolm interrupted once. You understand?
I'm not saying he committed anything. Adrienne answered, "Good. Don't give us facts. We decide what they support." Malcolm headed to the Meridian Club.
The dining room was nearly empty when he arrived after midnight. His former manager, Patrick Reynolds, listened to the explanation with increasing concern. Malcolm did not ask him to hand over confidential records illegally. Patrick contacted the club's owner and obtained authorization to review historical reservation and transaction data connected to Malcolm's own potential testimony. They started with Tuesday evenings.
Malcolm's memory narrowed the search. Trevor usually arrived after 9:00. Rear booth, same bourbon, often two or three guests. By 2:00 in the morning, they had identified 19 transactions across approximately 20 months that placed Trevor at the club on nights Malcolm remembered him meeting Russell or other people connected to Calder Peak. Some receipts included reservation names.
Others did not. Several dates matched Malcolm's memory clearly enough that he could describe who had been present. He photographed the approved records and sent them to Adrien. "That is all I have," Malcolm said over the phone. Adrienne replied, "That may be enough to tell us where to look."
Malcolm returned to Alder Street near Dawn. Evelyn had not slept. Norah was still with Darlene, who had agreed to keep her overnight after Evelyn quietly explained that there was a work emergency. By sunrise, Adrienne had assembled outside counsel, compliance staff, and an independent forensic specialist. Malcolm sat at the kitchen table while people on encrypted calls discussed evidence he only partly understood.
He refused to turn ignorance into false confidence. When they used language he did not know, he asked. One attorney explained that a bar receipt proved presence, not intent. A meeting with a competitor was not automatically misconduct. An access log did not prove information had been transmitted, but patterns could justify an investigation if independent facts aligned.
The first meaningful pattern emerged before noon on several dates when Trevor appeared at the Meridian Club with Russell or another Calder Peak executive. Nexor's logs showed Trevor had accessed confidential materials within the previous day or two. Some involved product delays, vendor problems, or strategic launch schedules. Within 24 to 72 hours after certain meetings, Calder Peak adjusted marketing campaigns or timelines in ways that appeared unusually responsive to information not yet public. In a smaller number of cases, unusual trading activity occurred ahead of negative Nexora disclosures.