Chapter 7 - A NAME ON THE OFFER
Dante found Emma outside the diner. He stopped several feet away.
“You have every right to be angry,” he said.
“I don’t need you to tell me what I’m allowed to feel.”
“I know.”
Traffic hissed through a puddle at the curb. Emma folded his coat tighter around herself, then realized she was still wearing it.
“I thought you helped me because you saw what they did,” she said.
“I did see it.”
“And you also wanted my signature.”
“No. Whitmore wanted it. My company considered financing the purchase. When I saw your name on the documents and learned you hadn’t met with anyone, I froze the deal.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Then why didn’t you call me last week?”
Dante looked tired for the first time. “Because I thought Nathan would tell you before the wedding. I was wrong to wait.”
Emma believed that he regretted waiting. She wasn’t ready to believe anything else.
She slipped off the coat and handed it back. “Thank you for this. I’m going with Sofia.”
Dante took it without arguing.
At Sofia’s office, Emma read every page of the proposed sale. The Whitmores’ company controlled several parcels, but the developer needed the property held by Walker Restoration to build a continuous site. Without Emma’s share, the purchase could stall.
Sofia pointed to a clause in the transfer Emma had signed. “This says you reviewed the trust documents.”
“I hadn’t.”
“And this page says the signature happened in the presence of two witnesses.”
Emma checked the names. One was Patricia’s assistant. The other was Veronica.
“Veronica wasn’t at my apartment.”
Sofia nodded. “We have a clear issue to challenge. I’m filing to stop any transfer while it’s reviewed.”
Emma’s phone buzzed with a video from an unknown number. She opened it.
Nathan stood inside the Mercer Street workshop beside an open cabinet. He held up a small ledger with a worn green cover.
“Your father kept more than one set of books,” he said to the camera. “Meet me tomorrow at noon if you want the one that clears his name.”
The video ended.
Sofia reached for the phone. “Send me that.”
Emma did.
“He wants to get you alone,” Sofia said.
“He knows we won’t let that happen.”
“Then he wants something else.”
Emma replayed the video. Behind Nathan, on the workshop wall, hung a framed picture of her father and his crew. The frame tilted to one side.
“He’s at the workshop now,” she said.
Sofia studied the screen. “What are you seeing?”
“That picture was straight yesterday.”
They took the video to the police. An officer met them at Mercer Street that evening. The workshop was empty, but the cabinet was open. The framed picture had been moved.
Behind it was a narrow metal compartment.
Inside lay a photograph of Emma’s father shaking hands with Patricia Whitmore.
May you like
On the back, in her father’s handwriting, were six words:
ASK HER ABOUT THE NIGHT SHE CAME.
