Chapter 7 - WHAT HE HAD SIGNED
“It was a temporary authorization,” Cameron said.
Eva drew back.
“So you did sign.”
“For Graham to make medical decisions while I was traveling.
Your mother was taking you to Boston for a specialist appointment.
I was supposed to join you the next day.”
He turned the page.
“This isn’t the document I signed.”
“You can’t know that.”
“You’re right.
We need to prove it.”
Ruth arrived before sunset.
She examined the pages without making promises.
“The signature page references an attachment,” she said.
“Where is it?”
Eva shook her head.
“This is all they gave me.”
The investigator recorded her account.
Eva agreed to a DNA test.
Under the interim order, she would remain in a separate supervised cottage on the grounds that night, with contact permitted and no transfer allowed.
Cameron hated leaving her there.
She saw it.
“Are you coming back?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“What time?”
“Eight.”
She looked at the clock.
“People say morning and mean whenever.”
“Eight,” he repeated.
Back at the hotel, Marcus had obtained copies of Cameron’s archived travel records and correspondence through Elena.
An email from ten years earlier contained the original authorization.
Two pages.
Medical decisions only.
Valid for thirty days.
The signature page matched.
The first page didn’t.
Someone had replaced it with a permanent guardianship petition.
Ruth studied the scans.
“Different typeface in the footer.
Different page dimensions.
And the original was witnessed by your assistant.
The filed version names a different witness.”
“Judith,” Cameron said.
Marcus nodded.
Her name appeared beneath the signature.
Cameron called the penthouse.
Elena answered.
“Judith left two hours ago.
She said you approved a family emergency.”
“I didn’t.”
Marcus was already reaching for his phone.
Elena spoke again.
“There’s something else.
She left an envelope on your desk.”
“Open it.”
Paper rustled.
Elena’s voice changed.
“It’s a photograph of Lily at about eight.”
Cameron gripped the phone.
“What’s on the back?”
May you like
Elena read it twice before answering.
She was safer without you.
