Franz noticed it during the document review. Nothing had gone wrong. He was certain of that.
The conference room remained unchanged from when the meeting started. The wall-mounted screen refreshed at steady intervals, updating the figures. The projection displayed quarterly projections in tabulated form. Pages shifted softly as the legal team moved through their notes along the far end of the table.
Arianne sat across from him at the long conference table. She had not changed position and did not look up as the discussion progressed. Her hands rested on the open folder centered in front of her, aligned with the table's edge.
Her pace did not change. Nothing pushed back.
That was what caught Franz's attention.
Normally, irregularities showed themselves—a pause where there should not be one. A line revisited, then corrected. A slight delay before a response landed.
