Chapter 13 - Evelyn's Signature

They stopped at a roadside diner where June knew the owner would ignore cameras and questions. The waitress set down six coffees, one of them in front of Price's empty chair, and said nothing.

Adrian stared at the documents Lily had copied from Northpoint. His mother's signature appeared on evacuation orders, procurement forms, and the lockout command that trapped families above the burning basement.

“It's real?” he asked.

Lily nodded. “Digitally verified. I checked the certificates myself.”

Mara imagined her father pounding on a door while smoke filled the stairwell. He had told the jury that someone locked the fire exits from outside. Nobody believed him.

“She killed people,” Mara said.

Adrian didn't answer.

Ruiz leaned forward. “We still need Evelyn alive to understand what those commands meant.”

“Seventeen people died,” Mara shot back. “What could those commands possibly mean?”

“I don't know. That's why we investigate.”

Adrian stood and walked outside. Mara watched through the window as he braced one hand against the wall, shoulders shaking. She hated that she wanted to go after him. She hated that she understood what it felt like to have your whole family rewritten by a stranger.

She followed him into the cold air.

“I wanted to believe my father,” he said before she spoke. “When everyone accused him, I thought they were jealous of him. Then my mom died. I took over part of the business to prove I wasn't like him.”

“And were you?”

“I looked away from things I should've questioned.”

Mara crossed her arms. “I can't promise I'll forgive you.”

“I wouldn't ask you to.”

She stepped closer. “But I think you're trying.”

“That's not enough.”

“No,” she said. “It isn't. Not yet.”

Inside, June's phone rang. She answered, listened, and then ran out, face drained of color.

“The diner owner just got a call from an old friend at the coroner's office,” she said. “Samuel Vale's body has been exhumed.”

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Mara stared. “Why?”

June swallowed. “Because his death certificate was falsified. The man buried in your father's grave isn't your father.”