Chapter 8 - What Nora Left Behind
Jonah laid the forged approval beside an old birthday card I'd signed for him. The loops in my handwriting were close, but not identical. It would take an expert to prove a forgery, Miriam warned. It took me only a second to know I had never signed the transfer.
"They used the same template over and over," Jonah said. "Audrey knew you hadn't checked the online banking reports since the accident."
"I checked what she showed me," I said.
"That was the problem."
Miriam called an independent accountant, Priya Desai. Audrey could still control most of the business records. We needed to move before they disappeared.
That night, Delia brought a small box from my home. Inside was Nora's notebook, packed with sketches from the years after my injury. She had designed the armrest switch with an engineer who specialized in marine safety equipment. The red button released my knee restraint and activated a flotation collar worn beneath my jacket. Once the collar surfaced, its beacon alerted the dock office. Nora had refused to let the waterfront become somewhere I could die alone.
A drawing of the collar filled one page. On the next, Nora had written: Graham gets to choose where he goes. Safety should make that possible, not take the choice away.
I read it twice.
Tucked into the back cover was a copy of the Northpoint Shore Trust deed. Nora and I had signed it fourteen years earlier. The public walkway, the old boathouse, and the fishing slips belonged to a separate trust. The operating company managed them, but couldn't sell the shoreline to a private developer.
Audrey's financing papers treated the property as if it were company collateral.
"Pike can't own that land," I said.
"Unless he convinces a lender and the city that these trust records don't exist," Miriam replied.
May you like
Jonah studied the map, then looked up sharply.
"Dad, Pike already told investors he'd bought the waterfront. The groundbreaking announcement is Monday."
