The suspicious inquiries.
And the possibility that someone was following her.
Then her security director approached.
He didn't look alarmed.
But she recognized the expression on his face.
“There's something you should know.”
She stepped away from the other guests.
“What?”
“A police cruiser has been parked near the building for twenty minutes.”
The CEO glanced toward the windows.
“That's unusual?”
“Not by itself.”
He lowered his voice.
“But the officers have been looking toward the vehicle entrance.”
She considered that.
“Could they be there for someone else?”
“Of course.”
She nodded.
“Then we shouldn't assume anything.”
The security director agreed.
He informed her that the investigators had been advised of the observation.
The CEO asked whether it was safer to leave through another entrance.
Her security director considered the available routes and recommended remaining with the planned, monitored departure rather than making an abrupt change based on an unverified concern.
She agreed.
The event concluded.
The CEO walked toward the parking garage with her small designer handbag in one gloved hand.
Her white cape moved behind her.
The black sequined skirt sparkled under the lights.
Several people turned to look as she passed.
She was accustomed to attention.
She wasn't accustomed to wondering whether every unfamiliar face might be connected to a municipal records investigation.
At 3:29, she entered her supercar.
The security director confirmed that the vehicle recording system was active.
He then returned to his own car.
The CEO drove out of the garage and onto the city street.
For three blocks, nothing unusual happened.
She stopped at a traffic light.
Waited for a delivery truck.
Then turned toward the financial district, where she was scheduled to meet her legal counsel before the next formal exchange of audit records.
At 3:36, the police cruiser appeared behind her.
The lights activated.
The CEO looked into the mirror.
For a moment, she wondered whether the officers were responding to an emergency somewhere ahead.
She moved carefully toward the curb.
The cruiser followed.
Its lights continued flashing.
She stopped in a legally available roadside space near the entrance of a large financial-services building.
Then placed the supercar in park.
The vehicle's recording system continued operating.
She lowered the window slightly.
Her security director, traveling behind, observed the stop and immediately contacted the authorized investigative team.
The officers were not expecting their target to have a trained security professional watching from a nearby vehicle.