Liam arrived minutes later. His earlier excitement was gone, replaced by a worried look as he saw my stressed face. He carried his laptop and a small hard drive, ready to jump into whatever new problem had come up.
"Ms. Hilly? What's wrong? Did Bianca pull another trick?" he asked quietly.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "It's about the video, Liam. The IT room video." I slid my tablet across the desk, showing him Damian's picture with the time on it. Then I pulled up the blurry security video, pausing it at the important moment. "Look closely. The time on Damian's photo. He was on a beach, far away, at the exact time our camera showed someone at his desk. And the person in the video… It's not him. Not exactly."
Liam leaned in, his eyebrows pulled together as he thought hard. He got out his own laptop and quickly plugged in the hard drive, bringing up the original, untouched security video. He zoomed in, made the light better, and used special tools to improve the picture. The office was very quiet, with only the sound of his computer humming.
Finally, he sat back, a shocked look on his face. "You're right, Ms. Hilly. The person's body shape is similar, and their height, but the chin… the way they hold their head. It's not Damian. The hoodie covers too much, but this isn't a perfect match. And that flicker… It's a known issue with our older cameras, especially when the internet is busy. Someone knew exactly when to cause it, to make just enough blur to hide who they were and make it look like Damian."
He quickly checked who had entered the IT room around that time. "There's a record… for a temporary worker who was fixing things that week. They had full access. And they were let go shortly after, once their job was done."
A cold feeling of dread settled over me. "A temporary worker?" I whispered. "Someone from outside, but who knew our inside information?"
Liam nodded seriously. "Or someone inside who hired them, knowing they could sneak in and out without people asking too many questions."
The truth hit me hard, like a punch. Bianca hadn't just played me; she had planned a very detailed setup, using my own company's weak spots and my personal history against me. The fake plans were bait, and Damian was the perfect, believable person to blame.
"We have to fix this, Liam. Right away," I said, my voice was strong even though my hands were shaking. "We need to put out a new statement. A complete taking back of what we said. An apology to Damian. And we need to find out who this worker was, and who hired them."
Liam looked worried. "A complete taking back? Ms. Hilly, the news has already moved on. This could make us look… unreliable. Like we don't know what we're doing."
"No," I argued, looking him in the eye. "It will make us look honest. And it's the right thing to do. Damian's good name has been ruined by our mistake. We caused this mess, and we have to clean it up. Start writing the new statement. Point out the new proof we found. Stress that Hilly Enterprises cares most about truth and doing things right."
He nodded, already typing. As he worked, I picked up my phone, my fingers pausing over Damian's name. This was going to be the hardest talk of my life. How do you apologize to someone you've publicly said was a traitor, only to find out they were an innocent victim? The truth had exploded, yes, but its sharp pieces had landed not on Bianca, but directly on Damian, and because of that, on my own conscience.