Chapter 18 - THE SECOND FORGED SIGNATURE
The forged withdrawal was better than mine.
My waiver had been assembled from copied signatures and a reused photograph. Sloane’s filing included a live identity session, a correct security phrase, and an authentication code sent to her phone.
The woman on camera resembled her.
She was not Sloane.
Her face had been modified digitally, but the hands remained visible. A pale crescent scar crossed the right thumb.
Eleanor recognized it.
“Rebecca Shaw.”
Rebecca had worked as Arthur’s private records clerk before joining Samuel Baird’s firm. She disappeared after prosecutors charged Arthur.
The security phrase came from Sloane’s sealed guardianship file.
Only four people had lawful access.
Sloane.
Her attorney.
Eleanor.
Marcus.
Sloane requested that Marcus be removed from the investigation.
He agreed before anyone ordered it.
“I concealed information Thomas entrusted to me,” he said. “That does not mean I forged the filing.”
“No,” I answered. “But it means your credibility cannot depend on our friendship.”
The court suspended Baird’s nomination before he could exercise authority.
Baird claimed he had accepted in good faith after receiving the verified filing. His emails showed otherwise.
Three weeks earlier, he had sent Arthur:
THE OLDEST CLAIMANT CREATES A PATH. ONCE HER NOMINATION RECORDS, CONTROL RETURNS TO SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THE FAMILY.
Arthur replied:
MAKE CERTAIN JOCELYN CANNOT OUTRANK HER.
They knew the certificate naming Laura as my mother existed.
They also knew proving it could make me the eldest adult descendant.
The forged withdrawal was designed to act before that proof became final.
Rebecca Shaw’s car was located at the airport. She had not boarded a flight. Security footage showed her entering a parking shuttle beside Eleanor.
Eleanor denied meeting her.
Then the timestamp proved the video had been recorded twelve hours before Eleanor appeared at Arthur’s study with the birth certificate.
“You saw Rebecca,” I said.
We sat inside Naomi’s office with investigators present.
“Yes.”
“Why lie?”
“She offered me the original protector schedule.”
“In exchange for what?”
“The maternity record.”
“You gave her a copy?”
“No.”
“Did you let her photograph it?”
Eleanor stared at the table.
“For less than a minute.”
That minute supplied the information Baird needed.
Rebecca also photographed Sloane’s guardianship file when Eleanor opened a safe to retrieve the schedule.
Again, Eleanor had entered a dangerous meeting alone because she believed she could control what the other person took.
“What happened at the airport?” investigators asked.
“Rebecca said Arthur had retained one final record from Laura’s death. She wanted immunity and money.”
“Did you promise either?”
“I promised to bring her request to counsel.”
“Where did she go?”
“She entered the shuttle.”
The airport video showed Rebecca leave at the long-term garage. Another vehicle collected her.
It belonged to Keller Legacy Services.
The same shell company that had received millions from Vanguard and the descendant trust.
Inside the recovered car, investigators found Sloane’s employee photograph, my old divorce disclosures, and a list of four names:
LAURA PRICE
LUCAS KELLER
MARA ELLISON
IRIS VALE
Two were dead.
Two were young women whose identities Arthur had spent years controlling.
Beside Iris’s name, Rebecca had written:
WRONG IVY. THOMAS MOVED TWO GIRLS.
The genealogical investigation had connected Iris to Lucas using a record Thomas created.
If Rebecca was telling the truth, the record identifying Iris as Ivy Ward had been built from someone else’s history.
Sloane read the note through her attorney.
“Someone is using my mother’s death to erase another woman.”
Before we could determine which one, Iris vanished from Keller & Vale’s secured residence.
May you like
She left one message on her desk.
I HAVE GONE TO FIND THE WOMAN WHOSE NAME I WAS GIVEN.
