Chapter 5 - The Signature
Rebecca Sloan arrived forty minutes later.
She entered the Mitchell estate carrying a laptop bag and the expression of someone who had already decided the night would become unpleasant.
Eleanor had known Rebecca long enough to recognize the signs.
Hair pulled back.
No jewelry.
Reading glasses in her hand.
Legal war uniform.
Rebecca hugged Eleanor briefly.
“I heard there was water.”
“There was.”
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“Good. Now show me the problem.”
Ethan handed her the page Lucas had saved.
Rebecca read it twice.
Then a third time.
“Where did this come from?”
Lucas explained.
Rebecca looked at Patricia.
“I’m going to tell everyone something before we continue. Nobody should destroy, alter, delete, or move any potentially relevant document or electronic file.”
Patricia smiled coldly.
“You don’t represent me.”
“I’m aware.”
“You have no authority in my home.”
“Also true.”
Rebecca slipped the page into a transparent document sleeve.
“But destruction of evidence after learning of a foreseeable legal dispute can become very expensive.”
Patricia’s smile vanished.
Vanessa sat near the fireplace.
Ethan paced.
“What does the page mean?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“By itself? Not enough.”
“That’s my signature.”
“Maybe.”
“It looks exactly like it.”
“Digital signatures can be copied. Handwritten signatures can be scanned. Context matters.”
Eleanor pointed to the phrase.
“Transfer upon marriage completion.”
Rebecca nodded.
“That concerns me more.”
Vanessa finally spoke.
“What transfer?”
Nobody answered.
Rebecca opened her laptop.
“Ethan, have you authorized Vanessa or Patricia to negotiate on behalf of Carter Strategic Capital?”
“No.”
“Ever given either of them access to your company email?”
Vanessa stiffened.
Ethan looked at her.
“She knows my passwords.”
Rebecca stopped typing.
“All of them?”
“My personal accounts. Some work accounts before security forced two-factor authentication.”
“When?”
“We live together.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Ethan rubbed his temple.
“For about a year.”
Rebecca turned to Vanessa.
“Have you logged into his business email?”
Vanessa’s face flushed.
“Sometimes to find travel confirmations.”
“Have you sent messages from it?”
“No.”
“Downloaded attachments?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer usually means yes.”
Vanessa stood.
“I am not a criminal.”
Rebecca remained calm.
“I didn’t call you one.”
Patricia interrupted.
“This interrogation is over.”
Eleanor looked at Ethan.
“You decide.”
It was important that he understood that.
Eleanor could protect assets.
She could hire lawyers.
She could expose lies.
But Ethan had to decide what truth he was willing to face.
He stopped pacing.
“It continues.”
Vanessa looked devastated.
“Ethan.”
“My signature is on a transfer document I have never seen.”
“I didn’t put it there.”
“Then help us find out who did.”
She stared at him.
Then slowly sat down.
Rebecca examined the black flash drive without plugging it in.
“I’ll have forensic counsel image this safely tomorrow.”
Patricia laughed.
“You’re taking stolen property.”
Lucas looked down.
Rebecca turned toward him.
“Did you enter a private locked room to get it?”
“No.”
“Was it lying where you were assigned to clean?”
“Yes.”
“Did you break anything or bypass any security?”
“No.”
“Did Mrs. Mitchell deny knowing about it when you attempted to return it?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca looked at Patricia.
“That does not resolve ownership, but it makes your accusation less dramatic than you seem to think.”
Eleanor almost smiled.
Ethan picked up the surviving page.
“What could be transferred after marriage?”
Rebecca glanced toward Eleanor.
Eleanor understood the question beneath the question.
How much does he know?
Not enough.
Richard Carter had intentionally separated family ownership from operational control.
After his death, Eleanor retained voting authority over Carter Strategic Capital through the Carter Family Trust.
Ethan held substantial beneficial interests, but full control over a particular block of voting shares would pass only after certain conditions were met.
Marriage was not one of those conditions.
Unless someone had created a document pretending otherwise.
“There is no legitimate automatic transfer triggered by Ethan’s marriage,” Eleanor said.
Vanessa looked confused.
“Then why write it?”
“To make someone believe there is,” Rebecca answered.
Patricia headed toward the bar.
Rebecca spoke without looking at her.
“Please leave the room.”
Patricia stopped.
“What?”
“You don’t represent my client’s interests, and you’ve made clear you won’t cooperate. I would rather speak privately with Eleanor and Ethan.”
“This is my house.”
Vanessa suddenly stood.
“No, Mom.”
Patricia stared at her daughter.
Vanessa’s voice shook.
“The bank owns most of it.”
Silence.
Ethan looked at Vanessa.
“What?”
Patricia whispered, “Stop.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
“You told everyone the refinancing was temporary.”
Patricia stepped closer.
“Vanessa.”
“You said after I married Ethan, everything would stabilize.”
Eleanor felt the pieces move.
Not fit.
Not yet.
But move.
Rebecca closed her laptop.
“Vanessa,” she said carefully, “what exactly did your mother tell you would happen after you married Ethan?”
Vanessa looked at Ethan.
Shame replaced panic.
“She said the Carter family would invest in Mitchell Development.”
Ethan frowned.
“I never agreed to that.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
Vanessa nodded miserably.
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“She said you didn’t need to agree.”
And for the first time that night, Patricia Mitchell looked less angry than trapped.
