Chapter 12 - the woman behind crown)
Rebecca Hall appeared on a video screen at 8:03 that evening.
She sat in a private office somewhere Jessica did not recognize.
Behind her stood a dark window.
No landmarks.
No identifying details.
Luke answered the call from the secure hospital suite.
Jessica and Cole stood beside him.
Rebecca smiled.
"Luke."
Luke's expression remained flat.
"You tried to bury me."
Rebecca tilted her head.
"Frank tried to bury you."
"You accelerated the funeral."
"Because once Frank acted, there was no returning to normal."
Jessica stepped into view.
Rebecca's smile faded slightly.
"Jessica."
"Rebecca."
"I underestimated you."
"So did Wendy."
Rebecca almost laughed.
"Yes. Wendy underestimates everyone."
Luke asked, "What did you transfer?"
"Assets that should never have remained under Sterling family control."
"They aren't yours."
"They aren't Wendy's either."
"That doesn't make them yours."
Rebecca leaned back.
"For ten years I watched this family confuse blood with competence."
Jessica said, "So you stole a corporation."
"I preserved one."
Luke's voice hardened.
"By helping people kill me?"
Rebecca looked almost offended.
"I told Frank not to use violence."
"You knew what he was doing."
"I knew he wanted you incapacitated."
"And when you learned I was alive?"
Rebecca said nothing.
Jessica answered for her.
"You moved the funeral sooner."
Rebecca's silence confirmed it.
Cole stepped into view.
"Rebecca Hall, you are currently wanted for conspiracy, fraud, obstruction and multiple counts related to unlawful corporate transfers."
Rebecca smiled.
"Detective, jurisdiction becomes complicated when assets move internationally."
Cole replied, "Murder conspiracy is less complicated."
Rebecca looked at Luke.
"They will blame your mother."
"They should."
"And Frank."
"They should."
"Then let them."
Luke leaned toward the screen.
"Return the assets."
"No."
"Rebecca."
"You still don't understand."
She lifted a document.
"Crown Protocol grants emergency authority when the Sterling family leadership is compromised."
"I am alive."
"You were declared dead."
"Fraudulently."
"Courts can debate that."
Jessica watched Rebecca.
She was too calm.
Too confident.
"Why call us?"
Rebecca looked at her.
"Because I want Luke to sign something."
Luke laughed softly.
"Everybody wants me to sign something this week."
Rebecca placed the document before the camera.
"A resignation."
Jessica looked at Luke.
Rebecca continued.
"You resign. You publicly blame Frank and Wendy for the financial crimes. Michael receives his trust. Jessica keeps her marital assets. I stabilize the company."
Luke said, "And if I refuse?"
Rebecca's expression became colder.
"I release evidence that makes Jessica appear to have authorized seventeen million dollars in transfers."
Jessica's pulse slowed.
Luke turned.
"What?"
Rebecca smiled.
"Her electronic identity was used repeatedly."
Jessica immediately understood.
The forged signatures.
The fake marital release.
They had prepared a scapegoat.
Rebecca continued.
"If the documents become public, investigators will spend years determining authenticity."
Luke said, "You forged my wife's signature."
"I created leverage."
Jessica stepped closer.
"Send me the documents."
Rebecca looked amused.
"Why?"
"Because if you're threatening me with them, I want to see how good you are."
Luke looked at Jessica.
She gave him the slightest glance.
Trust me.
Rebecca transmitted one sample.
Jessica opened it.
Authorization form.
Her name.
Her digital signature.
A date eighteen months earlier.
Jessica read it carefully.
Then smiled.
Rebecca noticed.
"What?"
"You made a mistake."
Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
Jessica enlarged the document.
"My legal surname was Sterling eighteen months ago."
Rebecca said nothing.
"This signature says Jessica Marie Sterling."
"So?"
"I have no middle name."
Luke turned toward her.
Jessica continued.
"I never have."
Rebecca's expression changed.
Tiny.
But enough.
Jessica smiled.
"Your forged identity package was built from a background report, wasn't it?"
Silence.
"One of those databases incorrectly lists Marie as my middle name because my mother's name was Marie."
Cole leaned toward the screen.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hall."
Rebecca realized what had happened.
She had voluntarily transmitted evidence of fabrication directly to law enforcement.
The call disconnected.
Luke looked at Jessica.
"Remind me never to negotiate against you."
Jessica closed the document.
"You already did. It almost got you buried."
He accepted the hit.
Cole's team traced the call through three servers.
The final signal originated from a private airport in Westchester.
Rebecca was preparing to leave.
Police moved.
But when agents reached the hangar, Rebecca was gone.
The plane remained.
The silver root authentication device did not.
A mechanic reported seeing her enter a black SUV twenty minutes earlier.
Destination unknown.
Luke looked at a map.
Jessica watched him.
"Where would she go?"
Luke stared at the locations connected to Sterling Holdings.
Then his eyes stopped.
"Headquarters."
Jessica frowned.
"She just left Sterling Tower."
"No."
Luke pointed to a property outside Greenwich.
"Old headquarters."
Arthur Sterling's original executive campus.
Abandoned after the company moved to Manhattan.
Jessica understood.
Crown Protocol had been created there.
The first authentication server was there.
If Rebecca wanted permanent control, she might need the original system.
Cole ordered teams to move.
Luke stood.
Jessica blocked him.
"No."
He almost smiled.
"You're becoming repetitive."
"And you're becoming mobile enough to be annoying."
"I created part of this problem."
"No. Your family did."
"I trusted the wrong people."
Jessica looked at him.
"Then trust the right one now."
Luke held her gaze.
Finally he nodded.
Jessica went with Cole.
Thirty minutes later, they reached the old Sterling campus.
The main building was dark.
But one office on the top floor glowed.
May you like
Arthur Sterling's old office.
And inside, Rebecca Hall was waiting.
