Chapter 9 - What Brittany’s Phone Saw
Brittany had filmed more than anyone realized.
Her phone automatically backed up videos to her family cloud account.
Even clips she later trimmed remained stored as originals.
One recovered recording began two minutes before the bucket attack.
Lexi was near the maintenance stairs.
Taylor whispered, “Are you seriously doing this?”
Lexi answered, “She thinks she can come here and write down everything like we’re some charity zoo.”
Brittany said, “Your dad literally runs the charity.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because he built it.”
Then Lexi picked up the bucket.
Brittany laughed nervously.
“Lex.”
Lexi looked toward Hannah.
“She wants a story? I’ll give her one.”
That statement destroyed Lexi’s claim that the act was spontaneous.
But the next clip mattered more.
After Hannah had gone inside to change, Brittany kept filming the terrace.
Lexi appeared again with Taylor.
Alan Pierce met them near the side entrance.
Lexi handed Alan the soaked blue folder.
Alan stared at it.
Then looked around.
“Where did you get this?”
“Her bag.”
“You took it?”
“She left it open.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Grant Hart entered frame.
Brittany must have been holding the phone low because nobody noticed.
Grant said, “Give me that.”
Alan handed him the folder.
Grant opened it.
His expression changed.
He flipped through three pages.
Then said:
“Upstairs. Now.”
The video ended.
Hannah watched it twice.
“You have him.”
David’s lawyer, Laura Chen, shook her head.
“We have evidence Grant possessed the folder.”
“He denied receiving it.”
“Yes.”
“So he lied.”
“Apparently.”
“Why aren’t you more excited?”
“Because lawyers who celebrate before collecting the next piece of evidence eventually regret it.”
David smiled.
Hannah frowned.
“Is that something you tell everyone?”
Laura answered, “Only Morgans.”
Brittany’s backup also preserved a video recorded later that afternoon.
Grant walked down the committee stairs.
Alan followed.
Grant said quietly:
“Delete whatever shows the folder.”
Alan replied, “There are multiple cameras.”
“Then remove the relevant window.”
Hannah stopped the video.
Nobody spoke.
No interpretation needed.
Grant had ordered deletion.
Alan had complied.
David immediately forwarded the recording through counsel to Harbor Crest’s independent directors.
The board scheduled an emergency meeting.
Grant’s attorney responded with an aggressive letter accusing Brittany of unlawful recording of a private conversation.
Laura explained that Colorado was generally a one-party-consent state for many conversations, but whether Brittany could lawfully record a conversation she was not participating in depended on circumstances and expectations of privacy.
“So we might not be able to use it?” Hannah asked.
“In some proceedings, admissibility could be disputed.”
Hannah’s frustration returned.
“But it happened.”
“Yes.”
“Again with the difference.”
“Yes.”
However, the recording gave investigators a roadmap.
They no longer needed the audio to prove everything if server logs, witness testimony, and documents corroborated it independently.
Alan Pierce’s attorney requested a private meeting the next morning.
Alan entered looking exhausted.
He had worked at Harbor Crest twenty-two years.
“I deleted the clip,” he admitted.
“Why?” Laura asked.
“Grant told me the foundation review was confidential and the video might expose donor-sensitive material.”
“That makes no sense,” Hannah said.
David glanced at her.
She stopped.
Alan continued.
“I knew it was wrong.”
“Why do it?”
Alan looked down.
“My retirement package.”
Grant had authority over a supplemental executive retirement plan worth nearly $900,000.
“He reminded you of it?” Laura asked.
Alan nodded.
“Not directly.”
“What did he say?”
“‘You’re eighteen months from retiring. Don’t make one bad afternoon the reason you leave with less.’”
Hannah felt sick.
Grant again.
Finding the number people feared losing.
Alan also admitted helping return the folder.
“Did you remove pages?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Grant alone with it?”
“Yes.”
“For approximately twenty minutes.”
Hannah looked at David.
Grant had lied about seeing the folder.
Deleted camera footage.
Pressured Alan.
Controlled vendors linked to suspicious payments.
The pieces were connecting.
But Alan’s next statement changed the scale.
“Grant isn’t protecting just the scholarship books.”
David leaned forward.
“What else?”
“The east marina redevelopment.”
“What about it?”
Alan looked toward the door.
“Harbor Crest is about to transfer the youth boathouse parcel.”
“To whom?”
“Hart Waterfront Holdings.”
Hannah stared.
May you like
Grant’s own company.
Alan whispered, “And the appraisal is fake.”
