Chapter 11 - THE SIGNATURE
Lily told me Vanessa had placed the necklace in her backpack before school.
Then she "found" it at home that afternoon.
"She said if I didn't write the note, she'd show you the backpack and you would believe her."
I wanted to say I would not have.
But the truth was uglier.
Six months earlier, I probably would have asked Lily why she had taken it.
That realization sat inside me like broken glass.
Rebecca photographed the note and necklace.
Then she showed me the boarding-school packet.
My signature appeared on eight pages.
It was good.
Too good.
"These are electronic signature stamps," Rebecca said. "Someone had access to a saved image of your signature."
I knew exactly where one existed.
My office scanner stored approved signature blocks for corporate documents.
Only three people had the password.
Me.
My assistant.
And Vanessa.
We contacted the school again and asked for the original upload metadata.
The packet had been submitted from an IP address belonging to my house.
At 2:08 a.m. on a night I was in Denver.
Attached was a notarized parental consent form.
"This is impossible," I said. "I wasn't here."
Rebecca studied the stamp.
"Not impossible. Illegal, maybe."
The notary name was Celeste Morgan.
Vanessa's cousin.
I called Celeste.
She denied everything for twelve seconds.
Then Rebecca mentioned subpoenaed notary logs.
Celeste started crying.
"Vanessa said you approved it. She said you were too busy to sign in person."
"Did you watch me sign?"
"No."
"Then why notarize it?"
"She said it was for school."
I closed my eyes.
Rebecca asked the next question.
"Did Vanessa bring you anything else?"
Celeste hesitated.
"One other document."
"What document?"
May you like
Her answer made the room go quiet.
"A temporary guardianship petition."
