The young couple standing outside the magnificent building.
She smiled.
“Maybe.”
Joseph took her hand.
“We don't have to decide today.”
She nodded.
“No.”
For a moment, they sat quietly.
Then Evelyn laughed softly.
“But I still want that picture.”
Joseph smiled.
He knew exactly what she meant.
The new photograph.
Fifty years after the first.
Outside the hotel where they'd made a promise.
And perhaps, finally, standing there without feeling they needed anyone's permission.
The review of Mariner Guest Services expanded during the following week.
Forensic accountants examined transaction patterns across the properties Owen Rivera identified.
They compared room inventory changes, payment records, outside booking statements, and the approval histories of executive allocations.
The work was complicated.
Some bookings were entirely legitimate.
Luxury hotels routinely used travel agents, corporate contracts, and third-party reservations.
A guest paying more for a package than the hotel received did not automatically establish misconduct.
The investigators had to determine the contractual arrangements, what services were provided, and how money should have been recorded.
But the patterns were increasingly troubling.
At twelve properties, some premium rooms had been redirected through Mariner under arrangements that lacked clear corporate approval.
Certain transactions were accompanied by internal payment-review exceptions.
Others involved late-cancellation charges imposed upon guests who disputed being responsible for the cancellation.
The investigators identified more than twenty million dollars in gross booking activity associated with the questioned arrangements.
That figure was not the same as stolen money.
Some of it represented room charges, legitimate services, taxes, and possible commissions.
But the review identified millions in unreconciled amounts and suspected improper payments that required further investigation.
Then the accountants examined Mariner's ownership.
The company was controlled through two holding entities.
One belonged to a business associated with Lydia Pryce's brother.
The other was connected to a hospitality consulting venture whose clients included several senior Crown Meridian executives.
The relationships had not been clearly disclosed in the approval materials the investigators initially received.
Elias read the ownership diagram.
For several seconds, he remained silent.
Then asked Renee.
“Did the sellers disclose these relationships during diligence?”
She opened the disclosure schedule.
“Not in the form we're seeing here.”
Elias exhaled.
“Then we need to examine the warranties and the supporting records.”
Renee nodded.
“We will.”
He looked toward the report.
“Who authorized the program?”
The accountant pointed toward a series of approval references.
Lydia Pryce's regional office appeared repeatedly.
Graham Voss approved several property-level allocations.