Chapter 4 - My Name on Her Paper
“I didn’t sign this.”
“I know,” Maria said.
Her certainty nearly broke me.
The letter accused her of stealing jewelry, mishandling household money, and harassing Celeste.
It also claimed I had personally reviewed the evidence.
I photographed it and gave the original to Bennett.
Then I checked my email.
There were messages I had ignored during weeks of fighting over canceled meetings and restricted accounts.
A payroll notice.
A revised household roster.
An automated request to approve an updated signature file.
All ordinary-looking.
All easy to miss.
I called our foundation’s finance director, Paige Turner.
She answered on the first ring.
“Evelyn. Is your father okay?”
“He’s stable. Why was my access suspended?”
A pause.
“Your father’s office requested it.”
“Who in his office?”
“Martin Shaw forwarded the authorization.”
Martin was the attorney Celeste had brought in after my father’s longtime counsel resigned.
“What authorization?”
“The one you signed.”
“I didn’t sign anything.”
Paige stopped breathing for a beat.
Then I heard her office door close.
“There are three grant releases pending,” she said.
“How much?”
“Four point eight million.”
“Going where?”
“A housing nonprofit called Harbor Renewal.”
I knew every major program we funded.
I had never heard of it.
“Pause them.”
“Martin said they’re urgent.”
“Then he can explain the urgency to the bank tomorrow.”
“Evelyn, I need authority.”
I hated that she was right.
My father chaired the foundation board.
I was a director, not a queen.
“Call the board treasurer,” I said. “Tell her my signature may have been forged. Ask her to authorize an immediate hold.”
Paige exhaled.
“I can do that.”
Down the hall, a security guard stepped into my father’s doorway.
Celeste was standing on the other side of him.
Her gown had been replaced by soft gray clothes.
Her makeup was gone.
She looked small and wounded.
“I just want to see him,” she said.
The guard looked at me.
I stayed where I was.
Celeste’s eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“I’m starting to.”
She leaned closer.
“Then ask your father why he signed the papers himself.”
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed.
Paige.
May you like
Two transfers were stopped.
The first one cleared yesterday.
