Chapter 11 - The Signature Nobody Made
The tablet had lived on the kitchen counter for years.
Emma used it for spelling games.
Andrew used it to pay utility bills.
Clara used it for recipe videos and invitations.
A signature on that device could have been entered by anyone who knew its passcode.
"So the record doesn't prove my wife signed it," Andrew said.
"Correct," Maya replied.
"It proves someone submitted it while presenting themselves as you. That's why we preserve records instead of guessing."
The school confirmed it had never spoken with Andrew.
Maya requested that the document and the original submission data be retained.
Andrew provided past emails in which he'd explicitly said Emma would stay in her own room.
In the meantime, Simone interviewed Emma in an age-appropriate setting, without Andrew feeding her answers.
Afterward Emma emerged holding a paper butterfly.
"Was I brave?" she asked.
"You were honest," Andrew said.
"That's all anybody should have asked of you."
At work, Andrew found he could no longer concentrate on the design contracts that had once consumed his days.
His manager offered leave.
He accepted, ashamed that he had needed a disaster to make himself available.
Clara's attorney sent a second letter, this one asserting she hadn't known the school application was final.
It blamed Judith's assistant for submitting incomplete information.
"Now they're disagreeing about who knew what," Maya said.
"We can use that to request the underlying messages."
One such message arrived without a request.
Zoe found it in an old work thread Clara had forgotten to delete.
It read, "Mom, please don't send the Pine Crest papers until Andrew agrees. He's going to lose it if he finds out."
May you like
Judith's reply was short.
"By the time he finds out, there won't be another option."
