the corporate documents.
She explained that Walter had transferred his controlling interest into a legally established trust before his death.
The trustees were independent, and Dorian couldn’t authorize the proposed sale using his father’s former voting power.
The company would undergo an independent financial and safety review.
Dorian shook his head.
“You manipulated a dying man.”
“No,” Maya said.
“Your father reviewed the evidence and acted while he had full legal capacity.
The documents have been verified.”
Miriam turned toward me.
“You’ve ruined everything.”
I looked at her for a long moment.
“You keep saying that as if you haven’t seen what you’ve done.”
Then Ruth opened the recovered maintenance records.
“The station’s independent controller stored the time and credential for the emergency override,” she explained.
“The main system was disabled at 9:16 p.m.
using Dorian’s assigned access credential.
The entry and exit records, external cameras, and other evidence support Iris’s account.”
Dorian’s face tightened.
“Anyone could have used my credentials.”
“That’s something investigators have considered,” Ruth answered.
She turned another page.
“There’s more.”
The independent controller also contained historical entries preserved from earlier incidents.
One maintenance bypass had been activated thirteen months before I was trapped.
On the night Emil Vega died.
The credential associated with that entry belonged to Miriam’s administrative access account.
Near the front row, Pilar Vega stood up.
“That’s the night my husband died,” she said.
Her voice was barely audible.
“He called me before his shift.
He said he was going to report the pumps weren’t safe.”
Miriam stared at her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Pilar held her ground.
“I know you blamed him for dying.”
The room became completely silent.
***
Miriam reached into her handbag.
For a moment, Dorian seemed to believe she was searching for a tissue.
But she was reaching for her phone.
Detective Malik stepped forward with another investigator.
“Miriam Wren, leave the phone where it is, please.”
Miriam froze.
The investigator identified himself and explained that authorities had obtained warrants connected to the ongoing investigation.
Dorian looked toward the exit.
Two officers were standing near the doors.
“You can’t arrest us because of a recording played at a shareholder meeting,” he snapped.
Detective Malik approached him.
“This investigation didn’t begin today, Mr.
Wren.”
She explained that investigators had collected access records, surveillance footage, financial documents, witness statements, and authenticated communications over several months.
The public presentation was not the basis for the warrants.
It was merely the first time the family had heard some of the evidence together.
Miriam’s attorney would later argue that her radio call was a mistaken safety judgment rather than a deliberate effort to prevent rescue.
But investigators had recovered additional communications and records showing coordination with Dorian before the incident.
Those records contradicted her claim that she believed the station was empty.
The financial evidence was equally damaging.
Payments to Northline Marine Services had been routed through companies linked to assets controlled by Miriam and Dorian.
Several transactions were backed by invoices for equipment that had never been purchased or installed.
The falsified certificates weren’t innocent bookkeeping errors.
They had helped conceal a prolonged diversion of restricted repair funds.
The investigation into Emil Vega’s death also reopened.
The historical override entry alone couldn’t establish that someone had deliberately caused his
