Chapter 10 - Brandon finally understood the key was not the real problem

Brandon’s attorney urged him to stop speaking.
He did not.
He remained convinced he could explain the records.
Legacy-system confusion.
Migration errors.
Staff mistakes.
His father’s failing memory.
Each explanation worked less well than the last.
Then forensic specialists recovered archived emails from one of Brandon’s old club devices.
One message to Scott Mercer read:
Dad approved the base amount. Run the rest through the revised batch after Thursday.
Another:
Do not send anything to his personal address. Finance system only.
Then the message that ended most innocent explanations:
Once he steps out, nobody will care how the old paper looked.
Brandon stared at that line during the legal review.
The gold key suddenly seemed almost irrelevant.
Walter had not defeated him with an antique object.
Brandon defeated himself five years earlier when he assumed digital records could permanently replace contemporaneous originals.
The key only reopened the room.
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The evidence did the rest.
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