Chapter 14 - A Name Is Not Permission
Severin answered our call from his parked car.
Dahlia didn't bother saying hello.
“Did you submit a letter pretending I approved that loan?”
He inhaled sharply.
“Tatum wrote it,” he said.
“She told me you had already signed.”
“You knew I hadn't signed in front of you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why send it?”
He finally told us something useful.
Tatum had gained access to a scan of Dahlia's genuine signature on a volunteer release form.
She kept the release in a folder from the charity fundraiser.
When Severin questioned the new letter, Tatum told him every family business handled authorizations this way.
“And you believed her?” Dahlia asked.
“I wanted to.”
That was the ugliest answer because it was the most honest.
Melanie asked him to preserve his messages and speak with his own lawyer before making a formal statement.
He agreed, then stopped answering us.
At home, Dahlia found the old volunteer release in her email.
She put the genuine signature beside the one on Tatum's letter.
The slant and loops weren't merely similar.
They were identical, down to a tiny ink skip in the letter M.
“It's copied,” Dahlia said.
“Not signed.”
We sent the comparison to Melanie and the lender.
That evening Nina called me from a blocked number.
Tatum had discovered she'd kept copies of the office emails.
A lawyer was threatening to sue her over confidential business records.
“I have two kids,” Nina whispered.
“I can't lose my job over this.”
“Tell Melanie what happened,” I said.
“She'll explain what you can safely do.”
Nina started to cry.
May you like
“I can't testify anymore, Mrs. Marlowe.”
Then the line went dead.
