Chapter 9 - THE SIGNATURE
“Don't post an answer tonight,” Emma's lawyer, Ruth Alvarez, said. “Send me everything first.”
Emma stood in a hospital stairwell, shaking with anger.
“They're saying I stole the money meant for my father.”
“I know. We answer with records.”
The application claimed Emma had requested payment to Lakefront on Daniel's behalf. Her signature looked right. That was the worst part.
She enlarged it until the screen blurred.
“It's mine,” she whispered. “But I didn't sign this.”
Ruth asked whether she had recently signed employment forms. Emma remembered renewing her emergency-contact information in Paul's office.
She had photographed that form because Lily's number had changed.
Ruth sent both documents to an examiner. In the meantime, Nora demanded that the hotel preserve the personnel system and suspend Paul's access to it.
Vincent called him directly.
Paul insisted the dismissal had been approved above him.
“By whom?”
“Mr. Wells.”
Adrian responded through counsel: he had merely recommended a review, and Paul had acted on his own.
By morning, two men who had seemed perfectly aligned were trying to stand behind each other.
That didn't undo the damage.
Emma found Lily deleting cruel comments beneath a photograph from school. Someone had posted their apartment building's address. Ruth helped them report it, and Vincent arranged temporary lodging through her office so Emma wouldn't have to hand her movements to his staff.
Packing a bag made the threat feel real in a way the message hadn't.
“I hate that they can reach our front door,” Lily said.
“So do I.”
“Are you going to stop?”
Emma looked at her father's work boots beneath the kitchen chair.
“I don't know how to stop and still live with what I know.”
At the hotel, Isabella called. “I've asked the independent board members to meet tomorrow. Bring your lawyer. You shouldn't have to sit in that room alone.”
As Emma zipped the bag, Ruth sent an update.
The signature on the disputed application appeared to have been copied from her personnel form, including the same tiny mark beside the last letter.
There was something else.
May you like
The false application had been added to the file the morning after the gala.
Using Adrian Wells's office account.
