Chapter 10 - The Street Outside the Firm
Mara denied being the woman in the security footage.
“The firm gave those bracelets to six partners,” she explained. “It was our twentieth-anniversary gift.”
“Who were the other five?” Olivia asked.
“Two are dead. One retired in Arizona. One moved to London.”
“And the last?”
Mara looked toward Warren.
“Your former general counsel, Elaine Mercer.”
Warren’s expression darkened.
Elaine had worked for the Hale family for eighteen years. She left suddenly after Lydia’s death and had not spoken to Warren since.
Olivia located Elaine’s last known address.
The apartment had been empty for seven years.
The next morning, Mara asked Warren and Emily to meet at the law firm. She claimed the bank had finally released the full account-opening file.
Emily arrived carrying Lily against her chest.
Warren stepped from his black SUV at the same moment.
He looked at Emily’s worn coat, her tired face and the old cream blanket.
The years of deception seemed to become real for him all at once.
“Wasn’t the $250,000 every year enough?” he asked.
Emily stared at him.
“I never received a single dollar.”
Warren immediately called the bank.
“Freeze every account connected to Richard and Vanessa.”
The revolving doors opened behind them.
Mara and Olivia rushed from the building carrying a blue folder.
Olivia had received a call from Daniel Ruiz at Lakefront Private Bank. Before leaving his position, he had copied the original signature-verification record.
Warren’s phone rang.
It was the bank’s chief compliance officer.
“Sir, we found an account opened in Emily’s name,” he said. “But the signature belongs to Vanessa Hale.”
Warren turned toward the lawyers.
Olivia handed him the document.
Vanessa had signed Emily’s name in the presence of a notary who later received $75,000 through Northbridge Consulting.
Mara opened the rest of the file.
“There is another problem,” she said.
The account was opened with a certified copy of Emily’s birth certificate, Social Security information and a facial-verification photograph.
The photograph had been digitally altered from one of Emily’s college identification cards.
“Who provided the records?” Emily asked.
“The request came from our firm.”
“Whose authorization?”
Mara turned to the final page.
Her own signature appeared at the bottom.
“I did not sign this.”
Olivia examined it.
“This one is different from the annual releases. It isn’t a digital copy.”
“What does that mean?”
“Someone physically signed your name.”
Mara’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared from the firm’s security office.
A man had entered the underground garage using Richard’s access card.
Warren ordered Emily into the SUV with Lily.
Before she reached the door, a black sedan accelerated from the curb.
The same vehicle Emily had photographed outside Lakefront Private Bank.
It moved directly toward Olivia.
Warren’s driver pulled her backward.
The sedan struck a metal barrier, reversed and sped into traffic.
Police units pursued it through the downtown streets.
The driver abandoned the car near Union Station.
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Inside the glove compartment, investigators found photographs of Emily, Lily, Samuel Price and Warren.
They also found a key card for the storage unit rented in Lydia Carter’s name.
