Chapter 4: The Night Daniel Chose His Lie
I stepped back as if Daniel had pushed me.
“Where did you watch me sign it?”
“At our kitchen table,” he said.
“You had a glass of wine.
You barely read the papers.”
“I was in Toronto on the date Ellis just gave us.”
Daniel turned to the guests.
“She travels constantly.
She forgets things.”
Dad moved between us.
“Do not make my daughter doubt her own memory.”
“This is your doing,” Daniel snapped.
“You never believed I was good enough for her.”
“No,” Dad said.
“I believed you until your banker called me.”
Vivian folded her arms.
“A private banking conversation proves nothing.”
Ellis slid a photograph from the folder.
It showed Daniel entering North County Bank with a woman wearing my coat and sunglasses.
Daniel tapped the picture.
“That is Emma.”
I took it from him.
“That woman is shorter than I am.”
“Convenient,” Vivian said.
A hotel security officer approached the table with a tablet.
“Mrs.
Graves asked me to bring the suite footage,” he said.
“It shows Emma entering at 7:42 this evening.”
Vivian’s smile returned.
“Now perhaps everyone will understand why I asked Daniel to check her purse.”
The video showed a woman in my green dress walking into Vivian’s suite.
Her face turned away from the camera.
“That’s your dress,” Daniel said.
“I was downstairs at 7:42.”
“With two hundred guests moving around?” Vivian asked.
“Who can prove it?”
No one answered.
Vivian faced Ellis.
“You have a disputed signature.
I have footage showing Emma entering my room minutes before my brooch disappeared.”
Dad gripped the back of a chair.
His face tightened.
“Dad?” I caught his elbow.
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine,” he said.
“You’re shaking.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“Tell him to stop this, Emma.
If he withdraws the audit and returns the property, Mother won’t involve the authorities.”
I stared at him.
“You planned this.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“You searched me in public.”
“Because you refused to cooperate in private.”
Ellis turned to the security officer.
“May I see the file information?”
The officer handed him the tablet.
Vivian stepped forward.
“You may not examine company property.”
Dad sat, but kept hold of my wrist.
“Let him look.”
“This is still my hotel,” Vivian said.
“No,” Dad replied.
“It has not been your hotel for three years.”
Ellis studied the screen.
“This clip was exported at 6:15 this evening.”
The security officer frowned.
“That’s impossible.
The event had barely started.”
“Where is the original recording?”
“I checked the server before coming down.
The original file is missing.”
Vivian pointed at him.
“Are you accusing me?”
“I’m saying someone replaced the file.”
Daniel took the tablet.
“This proves nothing.”
The officer reached for it.
“Mr.
Graves, please don’t alter—”
Daniel dropped it onto the table.
The screen cracked.
Gasps rose around us.
“An accident,” he said.
Ellis looked down at the broken tablet.
“The server logs will still show who accessed the system.”
Vivian’s voice sharpened.
“Then retrieve them.”
The officer did not move.
“Mr.
Pierce?” Dad asked.
The officer looked directly at Daniel.
“I can’t retrieve them,” he said.
May you like
“Someone used Mr.
Graves’s phone to delete the original file ten minutes ago.”
