Chapter 19 - the dead man’s signature
Nora placed the ledger beneath a forensic light in Grace’s office.
The signature was not a photocopy. Pressure marks appeared in the paper, proving that someone had physically signed the document.
“Could it have been prepared before Elias died?” Grace asked.
“The date is from this year.”
“Then either the signature was forged, or your brother is alive.”
Nora looked at the photograph on Grace’s desk. It showed Nora and Elias as children, standing beside their father during the opening of Vale Meridian’s first manufacturing plant.
Elias had been reckless, brilliant and impossible to control. Eleven years ago, his car had been found at the bottom of a mountain road. The authorities recovered his wallet, his blood and enough personal belongings to conclude that he had died.
They never recovered a body.
Nora had eventually accepted the funeral because everyone around her insisted there was nothing left to search for.
Malcolm had been the one who held her hand beside the empty grave.
Grace contacted a handwriting specialist while Nora called the foundation registry. Northstar had no public office, no staff and no website. Its ownership records were sealed under a private trust arrangement.
The only listed representative was a man named Adrian Kell.
Nora recognized the name.
Adrian had been Elias’s university roommate.
He had disappeared shortly after Elias’s supposed death.
Before Nora could search further, Malcolm entered Grace’s office without knocking.
“You froze the company accounts,” he said.
“I froze three accounts connected to unauthorized transfers.”
“You are humiliating us in front of our investors.”
Nora remained seated.
“You tried to have me declared incapable of managing my own assets.”
Malcolm’s expression tightened.
“I tried to protect the company.”
“From its largest shareholder?”
“From a woman making emotional decisions because her marriage is failing.”
Grace quietly activated the recorder on her desk.
Nora watched her husband carefully.
“You told the board I owned only four percent.”
“That is what the official registry shows.”
Nora pushed the Northstar entry toward him.
Malcolm’s face changed for less than a second, but she saw it.
He had heard the name before.
“Where did you find this?” he demanded.
“In a vault you were never supposed to know existed.”
Malcolm stared at the document.
Then he made a mistake.
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“Elias cannot activate those shares.”
Nora had never said Elias’s name.
