Chapter 2 - The Signature That Wasn’t Hers
The gray-haired stranger did not make it three steps before Vincent’s men surrounded him.
He stopped calmly.
Unlike David, he did not look frightened.
That interested Vincent.
“Name,” Vincent said.
“Arthur Bell.”
David snapped, “He doesn’t work for me.”
Arthur glanced at him.
“I didn’t say I did.”
Vincent pointed to an empty chair.
“Sit.”
Arthur sat.
Melissa pulled Rory closer.
“Who are you?”
Arthur looked at her for a long moment.
“An accountant.”
“For Sterling?”
“For people who prefer not to have their names attached to Sterling.”
David cursed under his breath.
Vincent heard him.
“Keep talking.”
Arthur placed the briefcase on the table.
David moved.
“Don’t open that.”
Vincent’s bodyguard blocked him.
Arthur clicked both locks.
Inside were folders.
Bank records.
Copies of contracts.
Payroll reports.
And photographs.
Melissa stared.
“What is all this?”
Arthur removed a document.
“The reason you weren’t paid.”
Melissa’s face tightened.
“I wasn’t paid because David needed my signature?”
“No.”
Arthur looked at Rory.
“Your daughter shouldn’t hear this.”
Rory frowned.
“I found it.”
Vincent almost smiled again.
Melissa crouched beside her.
“Rory, maybe you should—”
“No.”
The child clutched her mother’s hand.
“You cry when I’m not there.”
That ended the argument.
Arthur opened the first folder.
“Sterling Hospitality was losing money eighteen months ago. Not the restaurant. David’s private investments.”
David stared at him.
“Arthur.”
“You hired me to make numbers disappear. You stopped paying me three months ago.”
Vincent leaned back.
“So now you’re honest?”
“No. Now I’m unpaid.”
Vincent appreciated the distinction.
Arthur continued.
“David established an employee hardship trust because donations and insurance reimbursements could move through it with less scrutiny.”
Melissa looked confused.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“He needed a second trustee.”
“Why me?”
“You had access to payroll.”
“I’m a shift manager.”
“Exactly. Enough access to make the paperwork believable. Not enough power to know what was happening.”
David said, “This is nonsense.”
Arthur pulled out a photocopy.
Melissa’s driver’s license.
Her Social Security information.
A scanned signature.
Melissa covered her mouth.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your employee file.”
Rory looked at David.
“You stole from Mom.”
David’s face hardened.
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Vincent said quietly, “You should stop talking.”
Arthur placed another document on the table.
“The trust transferred money into three companies. One bought the Porsche. Another paid the mortgage on David’s lake house.”
“And the third?” Vincent asked.
Arthur hesitated.
David suddenly looked terrified.
That was enough.
“The third,” Vincent repeated.
Arthur opened another folder.
“Paid someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
David exhaled.
Arthur looked at him.
“But David does.”
Vincent turned.
David straightened his jacket.
“You’ve enjoyed your little show. Now I’m leaving.”
“No,” Vincent said.
“You have no authority to keep me here.”
Vincent nodded.
“That’s true.”
David seemed surprised.
Then Vincent looked toward the restaurant entrance.
Two uniformed police officers had entered.
David smiled.
“Good.”
Vincent watched the smile.
One officer approached.
“Mr. Sterling?”
“Yes.”
“We need to speak with Melissa Carter.”
David’s smile widened.
Melissa went pale.
“Me?”
The officer nodded.
“We received a complaint regarding financial theft.”
Vincent looked at David.
There it was.
The second move.
David had prepared this.
The officer continued.
“Mrs. Carter, we need you to come with us.”
Rory grabbed her mother.
“No.”
Melissa knelt.
“It’s okay.”
“No.”
“Rory.”
“They’ll take you.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“Officer, who filed the complaint?”
The officer looked uncomfortable.
“I can’t discuss—”
“I did,” David said.
Melissa stared at him.
“You what?”
David pointed toward the documents.
“Six hundred twelve thousand dollars disappeared under your signature.”
“You forged it!”
“That’s your claim.”
Rory began crying.
Not loudly.
That was worse.
She wrapped both arms around Melissa’s waist.
“You can’t take my mom.”
One officer softened.
“Sweetheart—”
Rory looked toward Vincent.
“You said he had to pay.”
The entire room seemed to shrink around that sentence.
Vincent looked at her.
“I did.”
“You’re the boss.”
David laughed.
“Apparently not.”
Vincent ignored him.
He called Elias.
“Get an attorney here.”
David shook his head.
“You can hire every lawyer in Chicago. The signature is hers.”
Arthur cleared his throat.
“No.”
David turned.
Arthur removed a small flash drive from the briefcase.
“The signature was generated from a scan.”
David’s face collapsed.
Arthur held up the drive.
“I kept the original file.”
The officers looked at each other.
David moved toward Arthur.
Marco blocked him.
Arthur handed the drive to Vincent.
“It includes emails instructing me to create the authorization.”
“From David?” Vincent asked.
Arthur nodded.
The officer held out his hand.
“We’ll need that.”
Vincent gave it to him.
David shouted, “You can’t prove those emails are mine.”
Arthur looked almost amused.
“They came from your personal account.”
David stopped.
The officers changed position.
Now they were standing closer to him.
Melissa slowly realized what was happening.
“So I’m not being arrested?”
“We need statements from everyone.”
Rory buried her face against her.
Melissa held her.
Vincent looked at David.
“Paycheck problem?”
David said nothing.
Arthur began gathering documents.
Vincent stopped him.
“You’re not leaving either.”
“I assumed not.”
“Who received the third payment?”
“I told you. I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
Arthur stared at him.
Then at Rory.
“The payments began eleven weeks ago.”
Melissa’s eyes narrowed.
“The same week my pay stopped.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Arthur closed the briefcase.
“Because David needed you desperate.”
Melissa went still.
“What?”
Vincent leaned forward.
Arthur continued carefully.
“He needed you too exhausted to examine payroll.”
Melissa shook her head.
“I don’t handle corporate payroll.”
“You handled employee corrections.”
“Only when someone complained.”
“Exactly.”
Understanding appeared slowly.
David had withheld wages from employees.
They complained.
Melissa entered corrections.
Those corrections gave her system access.
Her login became active.
Her credentials appeared on every later transaction.
Melissa whispered, “He was building a trail.”
Arthur nodded.
“To you.”
Rory stared at David.
“You wanted people to think Mom was bad.”
David looked away.
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“Why Melissa?”
Arthur hesitated again.
Vincent noticed.
“Why her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I genuinely don’t.”
Vincent stepped closer.
Arthur lowered his voice.
“But someone chose her.”
“Who?”
“I never met him.”
David suddenly said, “Stop.”
Arthur looked at him.
“You’re already finished.”
“Arthur.”
“You should’ve paid me.”
Arthur reached inside the briefcase.
David lunged.
Vincent’s men grabbed him.
Arthur pulled out an envelope.
On the front:
CARTER.
Melissa stared at it.
“What is that?”
“I was instructed to destroy it.”
“By whom?”
“The person receiving the third payments.”
Arthur handed it to her.
Melissa opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
She looked at it.
Her knees almost buckled.
Vincent caught her arm.
“What?”
Melissa held up the picture.
It showed David Sterling standing outside a building.
Beside him was another man.
Older.
Broad shoulders.
Gray at the temples.
Melissa knew him.
She had not seen him in twenty-six years.
Rory looked at the photograph.
“Who’s that?”
Melissa could barely speak.
“My father.”
Rory blinked.
“My grandpa?”
Melissa nodded.
“But Mom,” Rory whispered, “you said Grandpa was dead.”
May you like
Melissa stared at the date printed on the photograph.
It had been taken three weeks ago.
