Chapter 37 - The Ring That Changed Owners
Miriam insisted the ring had always belonged to her.
Rachel remembered otherwise.
Evelyn had worn the green stone in childhood photographs. She had worn it in the damaged image beside Rachel’s father and the pump station.
“Either you took my mother’s ring,” Rachel said, “or you have been pretending to be each other for years.”
Miriam turned the ring beneath the station light.
“When Evelyn disappeared after the hospital, she gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“It opened Northline’s original archive.”
Tessa examined the internal mechanism. A nearly invisible strip of metal ran beneath the stone. It was not jewelry alone.
It was an access device.
The engraving had been altered to make Miriam appear to be the registered holder. Someone had changed it again within the past week.
Rachel inserted the ring into a reader attached to the station locker.
A hidden directory appeared on the phone.
PROJECT BENNETT.
The folder contained surveillance photographs, reports about Rachel’s company and legal plans for gaining control of her house.
The earliest authorization carried Miriam’s digital signature.
Rachel turned the screen toward her.
“You approved the operation.”
“I authorized a protective investigation.”
“It says Phase One would create a public ownership dispute.”
“The dispute was supposed to force the original deed into court. Once it became evidence, Northline could not destroy it.”
“You used Marcus.”
“I never approved a marriage.”
“Your signature says otherwise.”
Miriam looked closer.
The authorization included a biometric pattern linked to the ring. It could not have been produced from a scanned signature.
Someone had physically used Evelyn’s access device.
Miriam sat down.
“There were only three people who knew how to activate this ring.”
“You, my mother and Celia.”
“Yes.”
Tessa opened the access history.
The approval had been recorded two days before Marcus first met Rachel.
The location was not Northline headquarters.
It came from Dr. Cole’s private clinic.
A second file opened automatically.
It contained a video recorded on the same day.
May you like
Evelyn sat across from Victor Saye.
She looked directly into the camera and said, “Begin Project Bennett.”
