Chapter 4 - THE LETTER
Maya waited until she reached the stairwell to unfold the paper again.
Her grandfather’s handwriting filled both sides. She had read the first page before. The copy Claire left included the second.
Samuel had accused Whitmore Systems of taking exclusive control of his software while continuing to use improvements developed after the acquisition. Under the agreement Samuel believed he had signed, those improvements would have triggered new payments.
At the bottom, he wrote:
I have copies of the original terms. Please do not make me take this outside your office.
There was no record of a reply.
That night, Maya drove to her grandfather’s apartment in Oak Park. Samuel was eighty-one and still kept his important papers in a metal filing cabinet that smelled faintly of machine oil.
“You should’ve told me about the letter,” Maya said.
He sat at the kitchen table, both hands wrapped around a mug of tea. “Your mother had enough to carry.”
“I’m not Mom.”
“I know.” He looked up. “That’s why I’m scared.”
Maya sat across from him. “Did Richard know what happened?”
“I met him once after the sale. I showed him the numbers. He said he’d look into it.” Samuel stared into his tea. “Then his lawyers sent me a warning. Said I could lose the house if I kept making accusations.”
Maya felt anger rise in her throat. “Do you have the original agreement?”
“I did.”
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to a lawyer.”
“Who?”
Samuel’s jaw tightened. “I can’t remember his name.”
Maya softened her voice. “Grandpa.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
He stood and went to the filing cabinet. After several minutes, he returned with a small envelope. Inside was a receipt for a document storage service that had gone out of business years ago.
On the back, Samuel had written a name: L. HARPER.
Maya took a photo.
As she was leaving, her phone rang. It was Eli.
“I found something,” he said. “Martin’s deleted report has an account number tied to the Reed payments.”
“Can you send it?”
“I’m trying. Someone just logged into my workstation.”
A door slammed on his end of the call.
May you like
“Eli?”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “Maya, somebody knows.”
