For several hours, nobody asked about Kimberly. Nobody asked about Jason. Nobody knew about K&W Residential Partners.
Roger liked that.
The next week brought the first significant discovery documents. Amanda sent them through a secure portal. Roger opened them at the hotel.
Kimberly had provided explanations for several disputed transactions. Some were ordinary insurance, medical expenses, household purchases. Roger checked them against records and marked them accordingly.
He did not classify every expense as suspicious simply because Kimberly had made it. That mattered to him. If a $640 payment had actually gone toward property taxes, he marked it property taxes.
If a $920 charge matched legitimate home repairs, he removed it from his question list. He wanted the spreadsheet smaller if smaller was accurate.
By midnight, 23 entries remained. One stood out.
$11,400.
Kimberly's disclosure described it as a home renovation expense. Roger read it twice. Then he looked around the hotel room.
Home renovation.
He mentally walked through the Worthington house during that month. No kitchen project. No bathroom remodel.
No new flooring. No major plumbing. No windows.
The roof repair had happened months later, and insurance documentation covered it. Roger searched his records. Nothing.
He opened their joint checking statement. The $11,400 had moved out six months earlier. He checked the HELOC.
A $7,600 advance had occurred shortly before it. Another transfer had filled the difference. Roger wrote the dates down.
The next morning, he called Amanda.
"What renovation did Kimberly identify for the $11,400?"
"She didn't specify."
"We didn't have one."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
"Can you prove that?"
Roger paused. Proving something did not happen was harder. "There should be no permits, no contractor invoices for our address, no insurance claim, nothing."
Amanda said, "Let's start with the invoice she produced."
Roger opened the document. A company called Buckeye Restoration and Contracting. Amount: $11,400.
Scope description: interior framing, electrical corrections, structural repair.
Roger frowned. Those were not cosmetic improvements. He scrolled lower.
The customer name was partially obscured by the scan. Then he saw the service address.
Not Ashborne Drive.
Maplecrest Avenue, Westerville.
Roger leaned closer. The duplex.
He read the invoice from top to bottom. Buckeye Restoration had performed work at the property owned through K&W Residential Partners. Yet the $11,400 payment had been characterized in Kimberly's disclosure as a home renovation expense.
Amanda was silent for several seconds after Roger explained.
"Send me your annotated copy."
Roger did.
"Don't write anything else on the original."
"I haven't."
"Good."
"What does this mean?"
"It means we ask why an expense for the Westerville property was described this way."
Roger looked at the invoice. The contractor name. The address. The date.
Everything was concrete. No assumptions.
Amanda continued, "And before you ask, no, this doesn't prove every disputed transaction went to the LLC."
"I wasn't going to ask."
"I know."
Roger sat back. The spreadsheet had begun as a way to understand missing money. Now it was becoming a map.
The following Friday, Kimberly requested to speak with Roger directly. Amanda advised him that logistics and ordinary matters could be handled carefully, but substantive legal issues should go through counsel.
Kimberly called anyway. Roger answered because they still had insurance and household matters to coordinate.
Her voice was controlled. "Eric says you're accusing me of stealing."
"I haven't said that."
"You're questioning every dollar I've spent."
"No. You sent pages of transactions. Transactions I don't recognize."