Chapter 7 - The Proxy
Julia did not let Daniel call Grant.
She physically took his phone.
“No.”
“He forged my signature.”
“We don’t know that.”
“He approved Northstar.”
“We know that.”
“He had my bank token.”
“Thomas believes he saw the case.”
“He accessed my network.”
“His device did.”
Daniel glared at her.
Julia placed the phone inside her handbag.
“You hired me because I don’t let you behave like an angry billionaire in a bad television show.”
“I am not a billionaire.”
“Good. Then legal fees can still frighten you.”
Despite everything, Daniel laughed.
It lasted two seconds.
Then he looked at the forged trust amendment again.
Emily’s name at the top made him feel physically ill.
The trust had been one of the last complicated decisions she made before cancer weakened her.
Lily’s future mattered to her obsessively.
Daniel had sometimes resented the amount of paperwork.
Now he understood why Emily had insisted on safeguards.
Julia read the document carefully.
“This amendment claims you signed in Connecticut on May seventeenth.”
“I was in Chicago.”
“Evidence?”
“Flight records. Hotel. Conference video. Half the company watched the speech.”
“Excellent.”
Daniel looked at the notary block.
“Who is Marissa Lowe?”
“I’m checking.”
Within an hour Julia found the answer.
Marissa Lowe was a mobile notary in Westchester County.
She was real.
Her commission was current.
The telephone number listed on the amendment was not hers.
Julia called the number from the state registry instead.
Marissa answered.
Julia identified herself and described the document.
“No,” Marissa said immediately.
“I don’t notarize trust amendments without journal entries.”
“Could you check the date?”
Pages turned.
“No Daniel Mercer.”
“Vanessa Mercer?”
“No.”
“Grant Holloway?”
“No.”
Julia exchanged a look with Daniel.
“Has your seal ever been lost or stolen?”
Silence.
Then Marissa said, “Yes.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“When?”
“February.”
Three months before the forged amendment.
Marissa had reported the theft to local police after her briefcase disappeared from her car outside a restaurant.
Julia requested the report number.
When the call ended, Daniel said, “That’s enough.”
“For what?”
“To prove forgery.”
“It strongly supports it.”
“Julia.”
“It supports it. We still need to establish who created the document.”
Daniel pointed at Vanessa’s name.
“She benefits.”
“So does Grant.”
“He benefits more.”
“Then let investigators build the chain.”
Daniel stood.
“I want Grant out of the company.”
“That is a corporate governance issue. You can remove his operational access immediately if your agreements permit it, but do not destroy records.”
Daniel called the chief financial officer, Laura Benton, and instructed her to suspend Grant’s access pending an internal investigation.
Laura went quiet.
“You’re serious?”
“Completely.”
“Grant is in the office.”
Daniel froze.
“He’s there now?”
“He came in twenty minutes ago.”
“Do not confront him.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Call IT. Preserve everything. Disable external transfer authority. Julia will send written instructions.”
Laura lowered her voice.
“Daniel, he’s in your office.”
“My office?”
“At headquarters.”
“What is he doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“Get security near the floor. Quietly.”
Daniel grabbed his jacket.
Julia blocked the doorway.
“You are not driving there.”
“Move.”
“Detective Bell needs to know.”
“Call him from the car.”
“Daniel.”
“My company is being robbed.”
“And your judgment is impaired.”
He stared at her.
She stared back.
Finally he gave her his keys.
“You drive.”
At Mercer Hospitality headquarters in Greenwich, the executive floor looked normal.
That made the situation surreal.
Assistants answered phones.
Employees carried coffee.
A television in reception displayed a financial-news channel.
Grant stood in Daniel’s office packing papers into a leather briefcase.
Daniel entered.
Grant looked up.
“You changed my access.”
“Yes.”
“You froze my company card.”
“Yes.”
“You sent IT into my accounts.”
“Yes.”
Grant shut the briefcase.
“You want to explain?”
Daniel dropped the trust amendment onto the desk.
Grant looked at it.
His face gave Daniel nothing.
“Where did you get this?”
“You recognize it.”
“It has my name nowhere on it.”
“But you understand what it does.”
“I can read.”
“You gain control of the board if Vanessa gets Lily’s proxy.”
Grant’s mouth tightened.
“Temporary voting authority.”
“I never signed it.”
“Then whoever sent you that has a problem.”
“Did you create it?”
“No.”
“Did Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you pay Northstar?”
Grant leaned back.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The real accusation.”
“You approved six hundred eighty-four thousand dollars in payments.”
“For consulting.”
“What consulting?”
“Market entry analysis, acquisition targets, labor-risk assessments.”
“Show me the work.”
“I don’t carry eight months of files in my pocket.”
Daniel pointed toward Grant’s computer.
“You do now.”
Grant smiled.
“You suspended my access.”
The arrogance nearly worked.
Nearly.
Julia entered behind Daniel with Laura and the company’s outside forensic accountant.
Grant’s smile disappeared.
Julia said, “Nobody is deleting, moving, or altering company records.”
Grant picked up his briefcase.
“I’m leaving.”
Laura said, “Security will inventory that bag first.”
Grant’s eyes flashed.
“You have no authority to search my personal property.”
“She doesn’t,” Julia said. “You’re free to leave with it. We’ll simply document that you removed company papers after receiving notice of an internal investigation.”
Grant stared at her.
Then dropped the briefcase onto the desk.
“Have fun.”
He walked out.
Daniel waited until the elevator doors closed.
Laura opened the briefcase.
Most of the contents were ordinary.
Contracts.
Travel folders.
A laptop charger.
Two legal pads.
Then she removed a black folder.
Inside were printed emails between Vanessa and Grant.
Daniel recognized Vanessa’s address.
The first several concerned Northstar invoices.
The next discussed Daniel.
His habits.
His travel.
His tendency to approve packets late at night.
His unwillingness to reread documents Julia had already cleared.
Then Daniel saw a message dated four months earlier.
Vanessa: He still won’t discuss giving me authority over Lily’s trust.
Grant: Don’t push too hard. Make it feel like his idea.
Vanessa: He trusts me at home but not with Emily’s money.
Grant: That’s the point. We need the proxy before the board move.
Daniel stopped reading.
Laura whispered, “Oh my God.”
Julia turned the page.
One final email appeared.
Sent from Vanessa three days before the pool party.
He’s asking questions about Northstar.
May you like
Grant’s reply contained only one sentence.
Then we are running out of time.
