CHAPTER TEN-B — THE DATE ON THE CLAIM

Anna asked Belinda to review the chronology of the acceptance process without Dorian’s summaries beside her.
They met on a Sunday in a small conference room at Anna’s office.
Belinda brought her work calendar and the copies of reports that had been provided during the initial audit.
Anna spread the materials across the table and placed a blank sheet in front of her.
“I want you to write down what you actually remember doing,” she said.
“Don’t fill in any gaps from somebody else’s description.”
Belinda remembered visiting the first completed site on a rainy Tuesday.
She remembered checking its furniture and the employee entrance with the facilities coordinator.
She remembered approving a revised brochure after the opening.
She had not personally visited Riverside Point or Hollis.


At the time, she had understood her role to be reviewing the regional teams’ reports.
Anna asked whether anyone had explained that Belinda’s electronic signature would later be described as personal site acceptance.
“No,” Belinda replied.
“Did you ask?”
“No.”
Anna nodded and wrote that down.
They then examined a summary from Riverside Point.
The document contained a photograph of a furnished room taken from an unusual angle.
Belinda recognized a framed painting visible in the photograph.
She had seen the same painting at the original model site.
For a moment, she wondered whether she was inventing the similarity.
Anna suggested comparing the original promotional photograph and the newer report rather than making an accusation.
The frame was identical.
So was the small dent in its lower left corner.
Belinda recalled that the model site’s painting had been damaged during installation.


Anna arranged for an independent reviewer to compare the photographs and their accompanying descriptions.
Belinda did not announce a discovery to the world.
She felt an uncomfortable possibility opening instead.
Perhaps a photograph had been reused as an illustration because the actual room was unfinished.
Perhaps a staff member had selected the wrong file in a hurry.
Perhaps the report’s author had deliberately made a client believe the site was complete.
None of those possibilities could be settled from a picture alone.
“What matters next?” Belinda asked.
“The people who generated the report need to explain its creation,” Anna answered.
“And you need to be precise about what you accepted.”
Belinda looked at her calendar again.
A dinner with Dorian had been entered on the same evening the report was signed.
She remembered the restaurant, the music, and the moment Dorian had told her she was essential to the company’s expansion.
She had signed three project summaries that afternoon without opening their full attachments.
The memory made her sick.
She had considered herself competent and detail-oriented.
She had wanted Dorian to see those qualities.
Instead, she had allowed his praise to hurry her through work where precision mattered.
“Do I tell the clients this?” she asked.
“You should discuss full disclosure with counsel,” Anna said.
“You can be responsible for your choices without accepting responsibility for decisions made by other people.”
Belinda looked out at the parking lot.
She had spent days wanting Jonah to assure her that none of this was her fault.
Now she understood why his refusal to invent certainty had made her angry.
He had been asking her to face a question she had been avoiding herself.
She folded her calendar and put it back in her bag.
“I’ll attend the meeting,” she said.
“Even if Dorian doesn’t want me there.”
Anna nodded.
“Then we prepare for the questions you can answer and the ones you honestly cannot.”