Chapter 11 - THE SIGNATURE THEY STOLE
Emma had never seen the contract.
Yet there was her name, her employee number, and a digital signature copied from payroll records.
The document claimed she had witnessed Isabella voluntarily transfer voting control of the foundation.
"That's why they hired me," Emma said.
Vincent nodded grimly. "A low-level employee makes a useful witness. Easy to pressure. Easy to discredit."
Emma read the date.
Three months earlier.
She had been working a wedding on another floor of the same hotel.
Carl had sent her upstairs to sign a payroll correction on a tablet.
"They copied my signature that night."
Marco checked the metadata.
The contract had been created before Emma signed the payroll screen.
Her signature was added afterward.
Alderman Keene had approved a zoning waiver two days later.
The conspiracy was bigger than Dominic and Victoria.
Vincent made a decision.
"We go public."
Marco shook his head. "Not yet. We have evidence of fraud, but not enough to prove who directed it."
Emma looked at the blue envelope problem again.
"Isabella's original letter would destroy the contract."
"If we can find it."
The hotel search had turned up nothing.
Then Emma remembered the fake nurse.
"She dropped the tray in the private lounge. What if the envelope never left the hotel?"
They returned to the Bellmore and searched the service route.
Behind a removable wall panel near the east elevator, Emma found an old pneumatic document tube from the hotel's original banking days.
Inside was the blue envelope.
Vincent exhaled.
Emma opened it carefully.
The first page was Isabella's sworn statement rejecting the trust transfer.
The second page was Linda Carter's handwritten note.
Emma recognized her mother's handwriting instantly.
The final line read:
If Dominic is working for Richard Keene, Vincent cannot know until he is ready to choose between his family and the truth.
Emma looked up.
Behind Vincent, the service door opened.
May you like
Isabella stood there.
"He is ready now," she said.
