Chapter 5 - AMELIA HAD BEEN INVESTIGATING WARREN BEFORE SHE DIEDWarren waited until Monique’s bedroom door closed.
Then he returned to his office.
The flash drive sat on his desk.
Small.
Black.
Ordinary.
He almost didn’t plug it in.
Monique’s words had found exactly where she wanted them to.
Amelia investigated you too.
His first marriage had not been perfect.
Far from it.
The year before Amelia became ill, Warren had worked eighty-hour weeks.
They argued about travel.
Money.
His father.
Her father.
How much control both families had over them.
Amelia accused him of being absent.
He accused her of hiding financial decisions.
Then cancer arrived and made every argument feel stupid.
Warren put the drive into the computer.
One folder appeared.
IF I DON’T FINISH THIS
Inside were audio files.
Photographs.
Scanned contracts.
A video.
And a folder titled:
WARREN
His hand stopped over the mouse.
Then he clicked.
The first document was a private investigator’s report.
Subject: Warren Carter.
Dates.
Hotels.
Travel.
Business accounts.
Warren felt betrayed even though Amelia had been dead four years.
Then he read why.
Client suspects husband’s signature has been used without authorization in connection with Landon Medical voting proxies.
His anger disappeared.
Amelia had not been investigating an affair.
She was investigating forged paperwork.
The report listed six documents carrying Warren’s electronic signature.
He remembered signing only two.
Three had been processed by Carter Holdings’ former general counsel.
A man named Gregory Vale.
Warren’s stomach tightened.
Vale had resigned after Amelia died.
Monique had worked at Vale Strategic Consulting.
That was where her name entered the timeline.
Connection.
The next file was audio.
Amelia’s voice.
Warren clicked play.
“I don’t think Warren knows.”
His chest tightened at hearing her.
“I was angry at him because I thought he was hiding something. Now I think someone is using him.”
A male voice answered.
Private investigator.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Monique Bell?”
“Maybe.”
Warren leaned closer.
Amelia continued.
“Monique accessed Elliot’s trust, but someone gave her the exact account identifiers. She couldn’t have found them publicly.”
“Inside Landon?”
“Or inside Warren’s company.”
The investigator asked:
“Does Warren know about the size of Elliot’s trust?”
“No.”
“Why not tell him?”
A long silence.
Then Amelia said:
“Because Warren signs things when people he trusts put them in front of him.”
Warren closed his eyes.
True.
Painfully true.
She continued.
“He believes loyalty means not checking.”
The investigator asked:
“And you think someone is exploiting that?”
“Yes.”
Warren remembered Monique handing him the guardianship paperwork.
It’s standard.
He had signed.
The next audio file was dated two months before Amelia’s diagnosis.
Amelia again.
This time frightened.
“I saw Monique Bell today.”
“Where?”
“Outside Elliot’s school.”
Warren froze.
The investigator replied:
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“She doesn’t have children there.”
“I know.”
“Did she approach Elliot?”
“No.”
“Then why was she there?”
“I don’t know.”
Warren felt nauseous.
Monique had seen his son years before she supposedly met Warren.
The next file was a photo.
Monique’s car outside the school.
Another.
Monique entering the Landon Medical headquarters.
Another.
Monique having coffee with Gregory Vale.
Warren stared.
Vale.
His former attorney.
A man he trusted.
A man who prepared voting documents.
A man who knew Amelia.
A man who knew the trust.
The final file in the WARREN folder was a memo.
Warren is not involved.
Warren exhaled.
Then continued.
But someone close to him is.
If Warren learns too early, he will confront the wrong person.
He almost laughed.
Amelia knew him well.
She was right.
He would have.
He nearly had tonight.
A knock came at the office door.
Warren flinched.
“Irene?”
“No.”
Elliot.
Warren opened it immediately.
The boy stood there barefoot.
“You should be sleeping.”
“I had a bad dream.”
Warren crouched.
“Want to sit with me?”
Elliot nodded.
He climbed onto the leather sofa.
Warren gave him a blanket.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Elliot asked:
“Are you mad at Mom?”
Warren’s throat tightened.
“You mean Amelia?”
Elliot nodded.
“No.”
“You look sad.”
“I miss her.”
“Me too.”
Silence.
Then Elliot said:
“Monique said Mom didn’t love me.”
Warren felt his heart stop.
“What?”
“She said Mom left me because I was bad.”
Warren had to look away.
“When did she say that?”
“In the basement.”
“How many times were you down there?”
Elliot held up four fingers.
Warren felt physically sick.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She said you’d send me away.”
“Where?”
“The school.”
“What school?”
Elliot’s eyes filled.
“The one Dr. Pike talked about.”
Warren remembered Pike recommending a residential behavioral program.
For Elliot’s “aggression.”
Warren had said no.
Monique had pushed.
He thought she was worried.
Elliot whispered:
“She said if I kept lying, Dad would sign the papers.”
Warren sat beside him.
“I’m not sending you anywhere.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
Elliot looked relieved.
Then he said:
“She already packed my bag once.”
Warren froze.
“When?”
“Last Thursday.”
There it was.
The phrase from the video.
You remember what happened last Thursday.
“What happened?”
Elliot’s voice became small.
“Monique put me in the car.”
“Where did she take you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Dr. Pike there?”
Elliot nodded.
Warren’s stomach dropped.
“Where?”
“A building.”
“What kind?”
“Big gate.”
“Did you go inside?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Elliot looked confused.
“Because the man said the papers weren’t right.”
Warren stopped breathing.
Monique had tried to admit Elliot somewhere.
Without telling him.
And apparently failed only because a document was missing.
“What papers?”
Elliot shrugged.
Then remembered.
“He said he needed Dad’s signature.”
Warren looked at the computer.
At forged proxies.
At forged guardianship language.
At Gregory Vale.
At Monique.
At Dr. Pike.
Someone had been practicing with Warren’s signature for years.
May you like
And if Monique couldn’t get his real signature—
Warren suddenly wondered how long it would be before she simply stopped needing it.
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