Chapter 12 - The Number on the Trust.
Mara arrived at Rachel's office within twenty minutes.
She looked offended before anyone finished explaining the problem.
"I've never had an account with that bank."
Vincent showed her the last four digits.
"That's your work number."
"Yes."
"Who has access to it?"
"Me and the company system."
Rachel leaned forward.
"Could Derek have obtained it from the old security contract?"
Mara thought for a moment.
"The emergency-contact sheet."
Vincent closed his eyes briefly.
The old contract had included Mara's number as Vincent's backup contact.
Derek had used one legitimate document to harvest everything he needed for the false trust.
A signature.
A phone number.
A business address.
A relationship between Vincent and Lena.
Nothing invented from scratch.
Everything rearranged.
"That's why it looked real," Lena said.
Rachel nodded.
"Good fraud often starts with accurate details."
Mara checked her phone records.
No authentication message had arrived.
Naomi called the bank's fraud team and learned that the request had been intercepted before the code was sent.
The IP address, however, had been logged.
Harris called less than an hour later.
"The request came from a public library terminal downtown."
Vincent frowned.
"Cameras?"
"We're checking."
"And Paula Givens?"
Harris paused.
"She says she notarized the trust."
Lena felt her stomach drop.
"She says we were there?"
"She says Derek brought in identification copies and told her both signatures had been completed in front of another notary who forgot to stamp the page."
Rachel's face tightened.
"That's not how notarization works."
"She knows that now."
"Did he pay her?"
"She claims no."
Harris sounded unconvinced.
"But she also says Derek kept a locked file drawer in his office labeled PERSONAL MATTERS."
Lena looked at Vincent.
"We need that drawer."
Harris answered before Vincent could.
"I already requested a warrant."
By evening, investigators entered Derek's office.
Lena was not allowed inside, so she waited with Rachel in a cafe across the street.
Vincent remained at a separate table to avoid being accused of participating in the search.
The distance was deliberate now.
Every step had to survive scrutiny.
Two hours later, Harris walked into the cafe carrying no documents and wearing an expression Lena could not read.
"We found the drawer."
"And?"
"Empty."
Lena stared at him.
"Completely?"
"Almost."
Harris placed a clear evidence sleeve on the table.
Inside was a torn corner from a yellow legal pad.
Only part of one handwritten sentence remained.
Rachel read it aloud.
"If Sloan talks, use Martin."
Lena remembered the name immediately.
Dr. Martin Hale.
The mysterious witness on Derek's petition.
"Who is Martin Hale?"
Harris sat down.
"We looked him up."
"And?"
"He is a licensed therapist."
Lena shook her head.
"I've never seen a therapist named Martin Hale."
"He says he's never treated you."
Rachel frowned.
"Then why is there a statement with his name on it?"
Harris looked directly at Lena.
"Because he says his signature was copied too."
Vincent crossed from the other table.
"Copied from where?"
Harris opened another photograph.
It showed a group of people at a charity dinner two years earlier.
Derek stood beside Martin Hale.
Vincent was three seats away.
Lena was between them.
At the bottom of the program was a handwritten donor pledge.
Martin's signature appeared beside a donation amount.
Derek had been sitting close enough to photograph it.
Lena stared at the image.
"So everyone in that petition was assembled from pieces."
Rachel nodded.
"Pieces that looked believable alone."
Harris's phone rang.
He listened, then stood abruptly.
"Library security found Derek."
"When?" Lena asked.
"This afternoon."
"Where did he go afterward?"
May you like
Harris looked toward the street.
"Back to your apartment building."
