Chapter 14 - The Basement Room
Claire's forensic analyst confirmed what Elena suspected: the purchase agreement was a fake. The signature image had been lifted from an old trust document, and the file metadata showed that it had been assembled on a workstation inside the Bellwether. But the transfer still posed a threat. If Sloane Urban used it to claim the hotel, the bank could keep the accounts frozen for weeks.
“We need the original system log,” Claire said. “The recovered drive has copies, but not the access trail. The mirrored server in B2 may have it.”
The basement level was sealed while the fire inspector examined the damage. Elena, Davis, Owen, and Jamie entered through the laundry corridor after the inspector gave them permission. Nora waited upstairs with Claire, ready to call the police if they failed to check in.
The mirrored server sat behind a row of old storage cages. Its cabinet had a new lock, though the hotel inventory said it had not been used in years. Owen opened it with a maintenance key. Inside, the server's status light blinked green.
The first man swung the crowbar. Owen ducked, drove him into the cage door, and wrestled the tool away. Davis pulled Jamie behind the server rack as the second man lunged for the laptop. Elena grabbed the fire extinguisher and blasted a cloud of powder into his face.
Jamie recovered the log. It showed Victoria's credentials accessing the server after midnight on six separate nights. It also showed a recording file that had been deleted but not overwritten.
Victoria's voice: “Use Davis's credential. The document needs to look clean.”
“She won't. By the time she understands what's happening, Sloane will own the building.”
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The recording ended with a crash and a burst of static. Elena stood perfectly still. Her father had been alive when the forgery began.
And he had confronted Victoria before anyone knew he was in danger.
