Chapter 8 - Cordelia Admitted She Had Used Frederick’s SignatureCordelia didn't deny it.
That frightened Malcolm more than another lie would have.
He returned to the hotel with Cassandra.
Declan refused to come.
Cordelia sat near the window with a cup of tea she had prepared herself from a sealed bottle of water.
Malcolm placed Declan's accusation in front of her.
"He says you used Dad's signature."
Cordelia closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Cassandra swore.
Malcolm remained standing.
"For what?"
"A letter."
"What letter?"
"An instruction to the bank."
"You forged my father's signature on a bank instruction?"
"No."
"You just said yes."
"I used a signature image."
"Without permission?"
Cordelia looked at him.
"With permission."
"From Dad?"
"Verbally."
Cassandra laughed.
"How convenient."
Cordelia accepted the criticism.
"Frederick wanted to test something."
Malcolm frowned.
"Test what?"
"Whether Walter Keene's office would process a document carrying Frederick's signature without verifying it directly."
The room went quiet.
"You sent a fake instruction?"
"A harmless one."
"What did it do?"
"Changed the mailing address for duplicate trust statements to a secure post-office box Frederick controlled."
"Did it go through?"
"Within six hours."
"No call to Dad?"
"None."
Malcolm felt cold.
"That proved signatures could be reused."
"Yes."
"Then why mark Dad red?"
"Because his signature had now been used on an unauthorized process."
Cassandra folded her arms.
"Unauthorized by whom? He told you to do it."
"It was a test. The list tracked every instance in which a signature could bypass normal verification."
"So red doesn't necessarily mean criminal fraud."
"Correct."
Malcolm stared at the paper.
The sinister list had become more complicated.
Some entries were proven forgery.
Some were controlled tests.
Some were suspected compromises.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Frederick wanted to identify the weakness before confronting anyone."
"Did Walter know it was a test?"
"No."
"Did Declan?"
"No."
"How did he find out?"
Cordelia shook her head.
"I don't know."
Cassandra looked at Malcolm.
"Maybe Dad told him."
"Maybe."
Cordelia continued.
"Two days after the test, Walter sent Frederick a revised trust package."
"Amendment three."
"Yes."
"Did Dad sign it?"
Cordelia hesitated.
"I watched him refuse."
Malcolm stopped.
"What?"
"Walter brought the papers to the house."
"Declan says he watched Dad sign."
Cordelia's eyes hardened.
"Then one of them is lying."
Cassandra leaned forward.
"Describe what happened."
"Frederick was in his study. Walter explained the emergency voting amendment. Your father read two pages, then pushed them back."
"Why?"
"He said it gave Declan too much authority."
Malcolm's pulse accelerated.
"Was Declan there?"
"No."
"Then when did he supposedly watch Dad sign?"
"I don't know."
Cordelia continued.
"Frederick told Walter to revise it."
"What happened next?"
"Three days later, the executed version appeared in the trust file."
"With Dad's signature."
"Yes."
"Did you show him?"
"Samuel did."
"His reaction?"
"He threw the file across the room."
Malcolm stared.
"He knew it was forged."
"He believed it was."
"Then why no police?"
"Because Samuel said they needed to prove how it happened."
Cassandra paced.
"How did Declan become executive trustee if Dad never signed?"
Cordelia looked at her.
"That's what Frederick was trying to learn."
Malcolm thought of the hidden ledger.
"All evidence would be inside."
"Yes."
"Why did Dad give it to Harrison?"
"Because he no longer trusted adults."
That sentence hurt more than Malcolm expected.
Cordelia continued.
"The night before he fell, Frederick told me he had identified one person who knew the amendment was false."
"Who?"
"He didn't say."
"Why?"
"He said he needed one more proof."
"Did he get it?"
"I don't know."
"Then he died."
Cordelia nodded.
Malcolm looked toward the hotel window.
His father's staircase fall had been ruled accidental.
Frederick had been found at 1:20 a.m.
No witnesses.
He'd had a small amount of alcohol in his system.
No suspicious injuries beyond the fall.
Still—
he had been investigating a forged trust amendment.
Cordelia kept a bottle because his medication looked different.
The coincidence was impossible to ignore.
"Tell me about the pills."
Cordelia's face changed.
"Frederick had a night medication."
"What kind?"
"I don't know the exact name."
"Then why did you notice it?"
"I organized his weekly pill case."
Cassandra looked surprised.
"You?"
"After his hand surgery, yes."
Cordelia continued.
"One evening the tablets in one bottle looked different from the week before."
"Different how?"
"Shape. Markings."
Malcolm deliberately did not ask for operational details.
"What did Dad do?"
"He stopped taking them."
"Then?"
"He sent one tablet for private testing through Samuel."
"Result?"
"I never saw the report."
"Samuel died."
"Three days later."
Cassandra sat.
"Car accident."
"Yes."
"What happened to the remaining bottle?"
"Frederick gave it to me."
"Why?"
"In case Samuel's report disappeared."
It had.
"Did Dad take any of the altered tablets?"
Cordelia looked at Malcolm.
"I don't know."
"Could they have caused his fall?"
"I don't know."
"Then why are you so afraid?"
Cordelia's voice broke.
"Because the night your father fell, he called me."
Malcolm froze.
"What time?"
"12:47 a.m."
"Where were you?"
"At my sister's apartment."
"What did he say?"
Cordelia's eyes filled.
"He sounded confused."
Malcolm couldn't breathe.
"Exact words."
"He said, 'They changed them again.'"
"The medication?"
"I assumed."
"Then?"
"He said someone was in the house."
Cassandra went still.
"Who?"
"He didn't say."
Cordelia continued.
"I told him to lock his study and call security."
"Did he?"
"I don't know."
"What else?"
"He said, 'If I don't call tomorrow, the boy has the only copy they can't rewrite.'"
Harrison.
The ledger.
Malcolm whispered:
"Then the call ended."
Cordelia nodded.
"I drove back."
"How long?"
"Thirty minutes."
"By then?"
"Police and paramedics were already there."
Malcolm remembered that night.
Declan had called him.
Cassandra arrived later.
Walter arrived before either sibling.
"Who found Dad?"
Cordelia stared at him.
"Declan."
The room became silent.
Then Cassandra's phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
Her face drained.
"What?"
Malcolm asked.
She handed him the phone.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph.
Harrison's old hamster cage.
The bottom had been removed.
The hiding place was empty.
May you like
Under the image:
YOU'RE TOO LATE.
Related Stories
