Chapter 7 - THE SIGNATURE THAT STOLE A SON
Dr. Hale asked to see the image again.
His hands shook.
"Zoom in."
I did.
He stared.
"No."
Julian stood beside him.
"You're sure?"
"I've signed my name the same way since college."
"People's signatures change."
"That isn't mine."
"How can you tell?"
Dr. Hale pointed.
"I never use my middle name."
I looked at the signature.
Samuel James Hale.
"Never?"
"On legal documents, I use Samuel J. Hale."
Julian's eyes narrowed.
"Could someone know that?"
"Eleanor."
Silence.
Dr. Hale stepped away.
"She knew exactly how I signed."
He looked sick.
"Then why use the wrong version?"
I asked.
"Because whoever created it wanted formality."
Julian stared at the screen.
"Victor witnessed it."
"Yes."
I looked at him.
"If Victor knew it was forged, he wasn't merely your family's attorney."
"He was part of it."
My chest tightened.
Victor Sloan had taught me that fraud rarely begins with numbers.
It begins with a story.
A false invoice has a story.
A shell company has a story.
A forged signature has a story.
Follow the story until someone contradicts themselves.
Now Victor himself had become the contradiction.
Detective Reed returned after nine.
"Mr. Sloan isn't at his home."
Rachel had already told us.
"His vehicle?"
"Traffic camera caught it heading north at 5:42 this morning."
"Before the preservation order was served?"
I asked.
"Roughly ninety minutes before."
Julian swore.
"Someone warned him."
Reed looked at Julian.
"Who knew about the order?"
"My lawyers."
"Names."
"Martin Kessler."
Reed wrote it down.
"Anyone else?"
"Two associates."
"Your mother?"
Julian hesitated.
"Martin may have told her."
Reed's expression said enough.
I asked, "Can you locate Victor's car?"
"We're working on it."
"Phone?"
"Off."
"Credit cards?"
"No activity."
"Passport?"
Reed looked at me.
"Ms. Carter, I know this is your world, but let us work."
"My world involves following money."
"And mine involves people who sometimes carry guns."
Julian looked at me.
"He has a point."
I stared at him.
"Don't enjoy that."
"I wasn't."
Reed pointed toward my bed.
"You had a baby today."
"Yesterday."
He checked his watch.
It was after midnight.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"Sleep."
Everybody kept saying that.
Nobody understood sleep required believing the world would still exist when I woke up.
At one in the morning, Noah finally settled.
Julian slept in the chair.
I watched him.
The angle of his face suddenly reminded me of Dr. Hale.
It was subtle.
The shape of the brow.
The line beside the mouth.
Once seen, impossible to unsee.
I wondered what Eleanor had seen every day.
Did she look at Julian as a child and see Samuel?
Did Arthur?
Did Victor?
How many people had known?
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
My heart jumped.
A photograph appeared.
No text.
I opened it.
Victor Sloan.
Sitting in what looked like a cabin.
A newspaper lay on the table.
Today's date visible.
Alive.
Then another image.
Victor holding a handwritten note.
VIVIAN, TRUST NO ONE WHO TELLS YOU I RAN.
My pulse raced.
I immediately woke Julian.
He sat upright.
"What happened?"
I showed him.
His face sharpened.
"Forward it to Reed."
I did.
Then another message arrived.
LOOK AT THE BABY'S TRUST.
I stared.
"What baby's trust?"
Julian read over my shoulder.
His expression changed.
"There isn't one."
A third message.
ARTHUR CREATED IT BEFORE JULIAN WAS BORN.
Julian looked at me.
"That's impossible."
"Apparently not."
The next message contained coordinates.
Then one final sentence.
THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT IS THERE.
Julian stood.
"No."
"I didn't say anything."
"You're thinking it."
"Thinking what?"
"Going."
"Obviously not with a newborn."
"Good."
"But Reed can."
Julian frowned.
"The coordinates could be a trap."
"That's why police exist."
We called Reed.
By three in the morning, officers were driving toward the location.
A rural storage facility ninety miles north.
I fed Noah.
Julian paced.
Dr. Hale came by at six.
He had not slept either.
The three of us sat in strange silence.
A woman.
Her ex-husband.
The man who might be his biological father.
And a newborn who had somehow pulled thirty-four years of lies into one hospital room.
At seven thirty, Reed called.
"We found something."
I put him on speaker.
"Victor?"
"No."
"What?"
"A storage unit."
Julian leaned closer.
"Inside?"
"Boxes."
"Documents?"
"Yes."
My pulse quickened.
"And?"
Reed hesitated.
"There's blood."
Dr. Hale stood.
"How much?"
"Enough to concern us."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"But no body."
"No."
"Any sign Victor was there?"
"His fingerprints are on a metal desk."
"When?"
"Can't tell yet."
"Original agreement?"
"Possibly."
Paper rustled.
"We found a sealed legal envelope marked September 14, 1992."
Julian stopped breathing for a second.
"Open it."
"I need a warrant extension."
Julian swore.
Reed ignored him.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"A second envelope."
"Marked?"
Reed read slowly.
"To Vivian Carter."
My skin went cold.
"What?"
"It has your full name."
"How old?"
"The envelope looks recent."
Julian stared at me.
"Victor left it."
"Maybe."
Reed continued.
"There's handwriting across the front."
"What does it say?"
He paused.
"If Vivian has reached this file, Eleanor has already tried to destroy her."
Julian closed his eyes.
May you like
Reed read the second line.
"And Julian finally knows why."
