Chapter 2 - THREE DAYS EARLIER
On Wednesday morning, Daniel went to the office early because he couldn’t sleep.
Mercer House had started as his father’s small furniture shop. Daniel had turned it into a regional company with stores in six states, but he still kept his father’s old desk in the corner of his office. Its bottom drawer stuck unless you lifted the handle first.
That morning, while looking for a contract, he found a folder wedged behind the drawer.
On the cover were three words: SPECIAL BOARD RESOLUTION.
Daniel read it twice.
The resolution said the board could appoint Caroline as acting chief executive if Daniel became “temporarily incapable of sound business judgment.” It also gave her authority to sell the company’s warehouse property during that period.
The document carried four signatures. One belonged to Caroline. One belonged to board chair Victor Ames.
A third appeared to be Daniel’s.
He had never signed it.
He took the folder to his attorney, Naomi Price, who closed her office door before turning the first page.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“My desk.”
“Who has access?”
“Caroline. My assistant. The cleaning crew.”
Naomi examined the signature. “This isn’t yours.”
“No.”
“Then somebody wanted it to look like you agreed.”
Daniel thought of Caroline’s recent questions: Had he updated his will? Why wouldn’t he let her speak to the board without him? Why was the warehouse still in his name?
He had mistaken those questions for an interest in the business. Now he wasn’t sure.
Naomi copied the folder and told him to keep the original somewhere safe. She needed time to check the board records.
That evening, Daniel came home to find Lily at the kitchen table making paper stars.
“Can we have blue balloons Saturday?” she asked.
Saturday was her birthday party. Caroline had invited nearly a hundred guests to the ballroom at the Grand Ellery Hotel.
“Blue balloons,” Daniel promised. “As many as you want.”
Caroline walked in behind him. She kissed Lily’s head and put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“You went to the office early,” she said.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Did you find what you needed?”
Daniel looked at her. “Maybe.”
Her hand left his shoulder.
May you like
Later that night, while Caroline was in the shower, Daniel hid the original resolution inside the cover of the old photo album Lily kept in her room. It was the one place Caroline never looked.
By breakfast, the album was missing.
