Monday

Monday is the confirmed start date of Delilah Sheridan’s assignment to audit Scanguards’ San Francisco branch. Its significance is chronological rather than tied to a single scene: Gabriel’s confirmation gives a clear point of departure for the investigation into irregular financial records, while the book does not specify the calendar date or establish that the audit’s later steps all occurred on a Monday.

Assignment and Date

When Samson Woodford asks Gabriel whether the New York office sent an auditor to San Francisco, Gabriel checks and confirms that the assignment began Monday. He identifies the auditor as Delilah Sheridan. The exchange establishes both the start of her engagement and her identity, linking a brief weekday reference to the investigation that brings her into contact with the branch and its staff.

The Investigation Monday Begins

The assignment responds to statistical reviews at headquarters that detected abnormal accounting ratios at the San Francisco branch. Scanguards chose an external auditor with no prior connection to the West Coast staff, since familiarity between auditors and the employees under review could compromise scrutiny. Delilah’s specialty is forensic accounting, suited to determining whether the irregularities reflect incompetence or deliberate fraud.

The inquiry focuses on depreciation and fixed-asset figures, then moves beyond computer entries. Delilah wants the original documents to identify who initiated and approved the disputed transactions, since shared passwords could make a system record an unreliable indication of who actually authorized a payment. The weekday therefore anchors a process of verification: from anomalous ratios, to source documents, to responsibility for the entries.

Chronological Significance

Later, John Reardon tells Delilah that the requested files have arrived at the loading dock. He understands that reviewing the booking documents may expose his fraud. This development belongs to the audit set in motion by the Monday assignment, but the evidence does not give it a Monday date. The distinction matters: Monday supplies a firm starting point for Delilah’s engagement, not a complete calendar for every discovery that follows.