Chapter 7 - The File in the Fireplace
The twist came from Tate.
He arrived at my sitting room late one evening carrying a tablet and the expression of a man who had discovered a corpse inside a spreadsheet.
“Did Augustus give you access to the old family trust correspondence?”
I was wrapped in a blanket.
“Emotionally, no. Digitally, yes.”
He placed the tablet on the table.
“Odette has been contacting board members.”
“Of course she has.”
“She’s claiming Kellan’s marriage contract is fraudulent.”
“How rude. It is one of the cleanest contracts I’ve ever seen.”
“That is not the problem.”
The problem was a set of old trust amendments from twelve years earlier. Odette claimed Augustus had promised her advisory control if Kellan failed to form a stable family unit before assuming leadership.
The documents were scanned copies.
Very convenient.
Too convenient.
I opened the files, adjusted the contrast, checked metadata, compared signature placement, and then asked Tate for every archived board packet from that month.
He stared.
“You can do that?”
“I was not born in a robe.”
By midnight, we found the original board packet.
No such amendment existed.
Odette’s version had been assembled from three separate documents and backdated.
The visible signatures were real.
The document was not.
Tate sat back slowly.
“She forged trust documents.”
“Technically, she manufactured a false composite instrument.”
“Romy.”
“Yes, she forged trust documents.”
He looked toward the hallway.
“Kellan needs to know.”
I picked up my tea.
“Tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?”
“Because if you confront a woman like Odette too early, she becomes careful. We need her confident.”
Tate stared at me.
May you like
“You terrify me.”
“That sounds labor-intensive. Please don’t make it a habit.”
