Chapter 14 - THE SIGNATURE ON THE PROXY
Marcus entered the boardroom with Naomi, Renee, and a certified copy of his identity records. Six directors stared as if their former chairman had walked out of a photograph.
Vivian remained seated at the head of the table. “This meeting concerns company business,” she said. “Not family theater.”
“Then let's discuss the paperwork,” Marcus answered.
A proxy on the screen authorized Vivian to vote his shares. It bore Marcus's signature and a date four weeks after the explosion, while he had been held without documents.
“That's forged,” he said.
Celeste shrugged. “You've been confused about a lot since your accident.”
Naomi presented the verified fingerprint identification and the court's order temporarily restricting estate transfers. Counsel for the board advised postponement. The sale could not proceed without verifying the shareholder authority.
Vivian's voice sharpened. “You're destroying a company your grandfather built.”
“No,” Marcus said. “I'm finding out who used it while I was missing.”
The directors voted to delay the sale and appoint an independent review committee. One longtime director, Simon Bell, approached Marcus privately.
“Your father would have hated seeing you walk in alone,” Simon said. “He also would have hated what we missed.”
Simon gave Renee a copy of a confidential audit request Marcus had submitted before the voyage. At the bottom, in his own handwriting, Marcus had circled three ship numbers and written SEVEN IS NOT AN ACCIDENT.
“I don't remember writing that,” Marcus admitted.
“You were following a container that didn't exist in the official ledger,” Simon said.
When Renee checked the tracking database, that container's last recorded location wasn't the Gulf.
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It was a storage building on the Sterling estate.
