The silence on his end lasted long enough that she checked the phone to see if the call had dropped. It hadn't. He was still there. Meridian Urban Partners, he said finally. You know it, she said.
I've seen the name, he said. In real estate filings. Three luxury development projects in the last four years. All in neighborhoods that used to be majority black, majority lower income. All in zip codes that showed up in the application rejection data.
She closed her eyes. Marcus, the money that was supposed to keep families in their homes, he said. And his voice was doing something she hadn't heard it do before. It was controlled, still completely controlled, but underneath the control was something that sounded like it was at the absolute limit of what a human being could hold together while talking on the phone at 6:00 in the morning. Got used to build luxury apartments on land of the families lost.
Lost Yes, she said. And Gerald Pruitt has a connection to Meridian? She looked at the screen. He's listed as a managing partner. Another silence.
How long have you known? Marcus asked. Not accusatory, just needing to know where the edges of the thing were. I found it 40 minutes ago, she said. You're the first call I've made.
Okay, he said. Okay, Evelyn, listen to me carefully. Do not call your legal team. Do not call your board. Do not call anyone inside that company.
Not yet. I know, she said. You need to secure those records physically, he said. Copy them to something that isn't connected to any company system. Then you need to get them somewhere safe.
Not your house. Not your office. Somewhere Gerald doesn't know about. I have a place, she said. And Evelyn, his voice shifted slightly, your assistant, your board liaison, your executive team, whoever handles your calendar, your communications, your building access.
You don't know who else is involved. Pruitt didn't do this alone. The sophistication of the falsification, the audit workarounds, somebody in finance helped him. Possibly multiple people. You are walking around in a building where you do not know who you can trust.
I know, she said again, quieter this time. How does that feel? He asked. She understood what he was actually asking. Terrible, she said.