Chapter 6 - The Signature That Wasn't Hers
The document arrived on Marcus's laptop at 6:11 the next morning.
It was a polished, two-page statement carrying Khloe's name and a digital signature block.
The date was the day before the assault.
"I never wrote that," Khloe said from her hospital bed.
Marcus didn't ask if she was sure.
He sent it to the foundation's legal team and requested that the original transmission and signature logs be preserved.
"The audit will show who created it," he said.
"Unless someone deletes the audit first."
Khloe's voice was weak, but she was thinking clearly.
She had worked in hospital patient safety before stepping back during the pregnancy.
She knew that bad systems rarely advertised themselves as bad.
"Find the attachments," she said. "I submitted twelve incident reports with my warning. That letter says I reviewed corrected data. Ask for the corrected data."
Marcus called foundation counsel Avery Chen.
"There is no corrected data attached," Avery told him.
"Then how could anyone accept a withdrawal?"
"Nobody has. A copy was submitted, but the committee placed it on hold when the metadata didn't match."
"What didn't match?"
"The document was generated on a computer owned by Rossi Medical."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"Get that to Detective Brooks."
At the hospital, Elaine Parker had been placed on administrative leave.
She sat across from the detective, turning a paper cup between her hands.
"I saw her fall," Elaine said.
"You saw who caused it," Brooks replied.
Elaine's eyes filled.
"Isabella told me she only wanted a confrontation. She said Khloe would yell and Marcus would finally see what she was like."
"Who told you to say Khloe reached for the glass?"
Elaine slid her phone across the table.
A saved conversation with Isabella appeared on the screen.
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At the bottom was a second instruction.
MAKE SURE THE CAMERA IS OFF BEFORE I ARRIVE.
