Chapter 86: Three Blank Quarters
One blank column could be delay; three blank quarters had earned an audit.
On Monday morning, the independent accountant placed the German audio reports beside the renewed master schedule.
The public catalogue still listed all six translated audio editions as available.
The English finance statements showed zero entries in the German net-receipts field for three consecutive quarters.
Zero on an English statement did not establish zero sales abroad.
It did not establish an amount owed, a permitted deduction, late reporting or fault by anyone present.
The overseas sub-licensee had supplied no matching source statement yet.
I refused to fill the gap with my memory of catalogue rankings.
Oliver's solicitor refused an audit that might expose his Larkspur income or performance contract.
My solicitor made the same restriction for Saltmere's advance, sales and production records.
The independent accountant opened a proposed scope letter on the recorded screen.
Its cover identified the old-rights audit as separate from the audio renewal, even though the catalogue check had revealed the same blank rows.
It named only the six old Blackwater audio licences and the German sub-licence reporting chain.
The requested records were source statements, contractually permitted deductions, remittance dates and reported net receipts.
No new-project bank data, manuscript, customer file or commercial forecast appeared in the request.
The accountant would compare the German source reports with North Quay's old-title ledger.
She would not reassess authorship, contribution percentages or the existing 50/50 schedules.
I asked for every excluded category to remain visible in the final instruction.
Oliver asked through his solicitor for the same protection against scope expansion.
The revised letter listed both projects by name under OUTSIDE AUDIT SCOPE.
It also excluded our household accounts and the ongoing property negotiation.
The blank quarters remained an accounting question inside old contracts.
I signed the limited joint authorisation.
Oliver signed the same version through the secure portal.
Neither signature admitted that money was missing.
Together they allowed the accountant to request the old-contract records neither of us held alone.
The system sealed the instruction with its scope hash and both timestamps.
The accountant estimated six weeks for complete source reporting and reconciliation.
Her fee required equal advance funding because the old schedules still divided the relevant receipts equally.
I authorised my half from my professional account.
The payment reduced my January working reserve without changing Saltmere's settled production budget.
Oliver's solicitor confirmed his side's separate payment instruction.
The accountant then addressed receipts arriving while the review remained open.
Neither party should hold or offset money unilaterally on the assumption of the final answer.
Both legal teams adopted one exact arrangement for any identified but unresolved funds.
They would be held by the solicitors acting as stakeholder under a client account arrangement.
The client-account instruction required matching ledger references and prohibited set-off against divorce property, new-project income or fees.
Release would follow the existing title schedules after the audit established the reportable amount and permitted deductions.
The neutral contract administrator received only the instruction needed to route old-rights payments correctly.
That office did not enter the accountant's analysis or either new project.
The accountant stored the source requests, joint authorisation and scope letter in the independent audit file.
Each solicitor received a certified read-only copy.
I kept the status page showing AUDIT OPEN — AMOUNT UNVERIFIED.
The three blanks had produced a process, not a public accusation.
They had also prolonged the shared-name financial administration by at least six weeks.
No one promised that my audit fee would be recovered.
At 12:08, the accountant sent the first request to the German sub-licensee.
The audit clock began without taking one line of Saltmere or Larkspur data with it.
My editor's delivery notice then appeared in the separate North Quay project window.
The final-manuscript portal would open at 11:00 on Wednesday.
Once it opened, the old accounts could no longer be my reason for missing delivery.