Chapter 15 - The Filed Papers
My separation petition had been filed at 8:43 that morning.
I had signed it at the gala.
I had not authorized anyone to file it.
Rebecca checked the electronic record twice.
“It came from my firm account,” she said.
“Can someone spoof that?” I asked.
“Not easily.”
Her voice had changed.
Dominic looked at her. “Who has your credentials?”
“My partner. Two senior paralegals. Me.”
The temporary order had already transferred my emergency voting proxy back to the Moretti board.
Exactly what Victor wanted.
Except Victor was now in custody.
Which meant someone else still wanted the result.
Rebecca called her office.
No one answered.
We drove there with Ortiz.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, papers were scattered across the reception floor.
Rebecca’s office safe stood open.
“Nothing looks stolen,” she said.
Then she checked a locked drawer beneath her desk.
Empty.
“What was there?”
“My original copy of Dominic’s father’s trust.”
Dominic swore.
A sound came from the file room.
Ortiz drew her weapon.
“Police. Come out.”
A young man stumbled through the doorway.
Rebecca gasped. “Eli?”
Her paralegal.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
“They made me log in,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Who?” Ortiz asked.
Eli looked at me.
“A woman.”
Cassandra stiffened.
“Blonde?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“Brunette. Mid-fifties. Expensive clothes. She knew all Rebecca’s passwords. She knew where the trust was.”
Rebecca sat down.
“No.”
I turned to her. “Who?”
She closed her eyes.
“My mother.”
The room went silent.
Rebecca’s mother, Judith Shaw, had served as personal counsel to Dominic’s father for fifteen years.
Dominic stared at Rebecca.
“She drafted the trust.”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
A woman’s voice said, “Sweetheart, stop helping Ava.”
Rebecca whispered, “Mom?”
May you like
The voice continued.
“If you don’t, the next person they hurt won’t be a paralegal.”
