Chapter 4 - The File Larkin Was Never Meant to See
Arthur Bell smiled.
"Early morning?"
Nobody answered.
He looked exactly as Penelope remembered from her interview.
Silver hair.
Tailored charcoal suit.
Perfect posture.
A face engineered to communicate grandfatherly competence.
Penelope had trusted him.
That bothered her more than fear.
Arthur placed her laptop on the conference table.
"I found this downstairs."
"Downstairs where?" Larkin asked.
"Security."
"My security team says it was taken from this floor."
Arthur's smile faded slightly.
"Then perhaps you need better security."
Thomas moved forward.
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask all three of you the same question."
Penelope watched his eyes.
Not his mouth.
People lied with their mouths.
Their eyes usually reacted first.
She held up the photograph.
Arthur looked at it.
Nothing.
Too little reaction.
"Recognize this?"
"No."
"The handwriting?"
"No."
"My mother?"
That did it.
A tiny contraction around his eyes.
Penelope saw it.
So did Larkin.
Arthur sighed.
"Penelope."
"You knew her."
"Yes."
Thomas swore quietly.
Arthur walked toward the window.
"Evelyn was exceptional."
"You told me during my interview you'd never heard of her."
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because Richard asked everyone connected to her to protect you."
Penelope laughed bitterly.
"People keep using that word."
"Because it's true."
"My mother died."
Arthur's expression changed.
"I know."
"Was Cedar Holdings involved?"
Arthur turned slowly.
Thomas stared.
Larkin's voice was quiet.
"Answer her."
Arthur removed his glasses.
"Cedar Holdings was created by Richard."
"For what?"
"An emergency reserve."
Penelope shook her head.
"Thirty-one million dollars doesn't disappear into an emergency reserve without records."
"It does when the company you're protecting has enemies."
"Who received the two-million-dollar payment after my mother died?"
Arthur looked genuinely confused.
"What payment?"
Penelope showed him.
He read the document twice.
Then sat down.
"This isn't Richard's signature."
Larkin stepped closer.
"What?"
Arthur pointed.
"Your father broke his right wrist when he was twenty-nine. After that, the S in Steves always tilted backward."
Penelope examined the signature.
Forward.
A forgery.
Thomas looked at his father's signature.
"And Daniel's?"
Arthur studied it.
"Also forged."
The investigation changed instantly.
Someone had created Cedar Holdings using the identities of both men.
Someone with access to executive records.
Penelope opened her recovered laptop.
Nothing appeared damaged.
She checked the hidden spreadsheet she'd been maintaining.
Still there.
Months of suspicious transactions.
She projected it onto the conference screen.
Arthur's expression changed as the numbers appeared.
"You found this yourself?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because whoever designed it got lazy."
Penelope enlarged the transactions.
"They varied the amounts, vendors, and dates. But they reused the same rounding sequence every seventh transfer."
Larkin looked at her.
"You noticed that?"
"It annoyed me."
Thomas laughed despite himself.
Penelope traced the money.
Recent transfers eventually reached a shell company.
Hawthorne Consulting.
Arthur stared at the name.
"I know that company."
"Who owns it?"
"Officially? Nobody important."
"And unofficially?"
Arthur looked toward Thomas.
"Daniel Dixon created it."
Thomas went pale.
The evidence was becoming impossible to ignore.
But Penelope wasn't convinced.
It was too clean.
Too convenient.
A dead man couldn't defend himself.
A dead man couldn't explain forged signatures.
Someone wanted them looking backward.
She searched the file metadata.
The newest Hawthorne transfer had been approved four days earlier.
"Your father died six years ago," Penelope said.
Thomas stared at the screen.
"So?"
"So somebody is still using his authorization code."
Larkin leaned forward.
"Can we identify the terminal?"
Penelope typed.
The authorization originated on the forty-second floor.
Executive office.
Terminal 4.
They all turned.
Thomas whispered, "That's mine."
Silence.
Penelope looked at him.
Thomas stepped backward.
"No."
Larkin's expression hardened.
"I didn't do it."
Arthur moved toward the door.
"Nobody leaves."
Thomas laughed bitterly.
"You think it's me?"
"I think somebody wants us to."
Penelope checked login timestamps.
Thomas had been at the gala during the latest transaction.
So had Larkin.
So had Arthur.
All three had witnesses.
Which meant someone else possessed Thomas's credentials.
Penelope searched access logs.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Melissa Grant.
Larkin's executive operations director.
Quiet.
Efficient.
Trusted.
Penelope knew her well.
Melissa approved payroll changes.
Managed executive credentials.
Scheduled security maintenance.
And had access to every computer on the floor.
Larkin called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Thomas called security.
"Find Melissa Grant."
The response came thirty seconds later.
Melissa had resigned electronically at 5:42 that morning.
Her company phone was on her desk.
Her apartment was empty.
Her car had been found at the airport.
Penelope stared at the screen.
"She's running."
Arthur shook his head.
"Or someone wants us to believe she is."
Then Penelope received an email.
From Melissa.
SUBJECT: YOUR MOTHER WAS RIGHT.
Attached was a video.
Penelope opened it.
Melissa appeared on-screen.
She looked terrified.
"If you're watching this, Penelope, they've discovered I helped you."
Penelope leaned closer.
Helped her?
Melissa continued.
"Your mother found the original ledger. Richard tried to protect her. Neither understood who they were dealing with until it was too late."
Larkin's face tightened.
"Who?"
Melissa looked directly into the camera.
"The person stealing from the company wasn't Richard Steves."
Pause.
"It wasn't Daniel Dixon."
Another pause.
"And it isn't Arthur Bell."
Thomas stepped closer.
"Then who?"
Melissa's image suddenly distorted.
The video froze.
A corruption warning appeared.
Penelope tried reopening it.
Nothing.
But another attachment remained.
A password-protected file.
Filename:
LARKIN_TRUTH_FINAL.
Larkin stared.
"Open it."
"I need the password."
Penelope tried Richard.
Incorrect.
Evelyn.
Incorrect.
Cedar.
Incorrect.
Thomas paced.
"What would Melissa use?"
Penelope looked at the photograph of herself as a child.
Then she understood.
She typed:
ACCESS GRANTED.
Inside was a single scanned document.
Larkin read the first line.
His face drained of color.
It was his father's final will.
Not the will Larkin had inherited under.
A different one.
A secret amendment dated three days before Richard's death.
And according to the document, Richard Steves had left controlling ownership of the entire company to someone else.
Penelope scrolled down.
The beneficiary's name appeared.
She stared.
"No."
Larkin moved beside her.
Thomas whispered, "Who is it?"
Penelope looked at the signature.
Then at Larkin.
The beneficiary wasn't him.
May you like
It was her.
PENELOPE ANNE WOODS.
