Chapter 9 - The Other Man
Nate took Rachel home through the back entrance because cameras had gathered outside the hotel. She sat on the kitchen floor beside her dog, still wearing a bandage on one hand.
"I nearly let a child fall," she said.
"You saved him."
"I should have checked that stairwell months ago."
"Graham sent you fake reports. You trusted people who were paid to do their jobs."
"And I was the person responsible for checking them. Both things can be true."
Nate didn't have an answer. He respected her more for refusing an easy one.
Owen brought the reporter's source material: false minutes, a financial chart, and a photo of Rachel handing Sloane her phone. Somebody had built a convincing lie.
"Graham wants the press focused on Rachel," Owen said. "If the bank believes she's an unreliable signer, they may freeze the charity's legitimate accounts too."
"Which would stop emergency repairs," Rachel said.
A text came from Tessa Blake, Sloane's maid of honor: I NEED TO TALK. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.
They met her in the closed restaurant of Nate's oldest hotel. Tessa sat with both hands wrapped around a water glass.
"Sloane told me Graham was her cousin," she began. "He's not. I've seen them together. They shared an apartment before she met you. I thought that was over."
Nate looked at her. "Was it?"
Tessa shook her head. "I walked in on them two weeks ago. They were arguing about money. She said she wanted to back out. He said she had already taken the advance."
"What advance?"
"I don't know. But I heard him say, 'If he won't make you family, we use the signatures anyway.'"
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Tessa pulled a folded receipt from her purse. It showed a $300,000 deposit to a company owned by Sloane, paid by Marsh Point Services.
Before Nate could speak, Tessa's phone lit up. A message from Sloane appeared across the screen: TELL NATE ABOUT THE PAYMENT, AND I'LL TELL HIM WHAT YOU DID AT THE RIVER.
