Chapter 7 - The Signature They Borrowed
Brooks played the final recording for Naomi at the station the next morning.
Evelyn's voice was quiet but steady.
"Naomi did not sign."
Then Celeste said, "She won't have a choice."
Nothing followed except the click of a door.
"Mrs. Vale knew she'd try to frame me," Naomi said.
"Yes," Brooks replied. "Now we need to show how."
At seven, the estate's human resources manager brought a folder from the locked personnel office. Naomi's hiring agreement was inside. Three years earlier, she'd signed it with a pen that had briefly skipped on the C in Carter.
The witness signature on the trust paper carried the same skip, in exactly the same place.
"It isn't handwriting," Naomi said. "It's a picture of my signature."
Brooks nodded. "That's consistent with what our document examiner is checking."
Adrian had come to give a statement. He stared at Naomi's old contract.
"She had access to my entire staff file system."
"Who gave her access?" Brooks asked.
"I did. I told myself she was helping with the wedding."
Naomi didn't soften the answer for him.
"She used the help you gave her to try to make me a criminal."
He looked down. "I know."
Back at the estate, Marcus produced the security access log. A staff administrator had opened Naomi's file at 2:14 Wednesday morning.
The username belonged to Adrian's executive assistant, Owen Reed.
Owen was twenty-seven, usually nervous, and so loyal to Adrian that he'd worked through a family vacation without complaint.
"Call him in," Adrian said.
Owen arrived with a pale face and a folded resignation letter.
"I didn't know she'd use it against Naomi," he said before anyone accused him.
Adrian took one step closer.
"What exactly did you give Celeste?"
May you like
Owen swallowed.
"The contract. Your old signature samples. And the login recovery codes for the family office."
