Chapter 5: Eleven Minutes Too Late
Naomi spread the proxy across the head table.
“Daniel, is this your signature?”
“It looks like mine.”
“That was not my question.”
Daniel bent closer.
“I signed an electronic pad before the ceremony.
Claire said the printer had failed.”
Gavin closed his briefcase.
“Then we’re finished here.”
“No,” Naomi said.
“We’re beginning.”
Claire took Gavin’s arm.
“We should go.”
Owen moved in front of the doors.
“You cannot hold us here,” Gavin said.
“I’m not holding anyone.” Owen pointed toward the service hall.
“But the venue’s camera system recorded Claire taking Daniel’s signature pad into the office.”
Claire’s eyes flashed.
“You accessed private security footage?”
“I watched it live.”
“You were told not to monitor that corridor.”
“That seemed strange, so I saved a copy.”
Claire looked at Gavin.
“He is lying.”
Owen removed a small drive from his pocket and handed it to Naomi.
“I saved the gate footage too.
Martin locked Ruth outside at 4:41.”
Martin’s shoulders dropped.
“You said she’d leave,” he told Claire.
“You said no one would be hurt.”
“No one was hurt.”
Ruth lifted the torn hem of her dress.
A long scrape crossed her ankle.
Martin looked sick.
Claire pointed at him.
“He acted alone.
I never told him to lock anything.”
Daniel picked up Claire’s phone and opened the message preview again.
“Then unlock your phone.”
“No.”
“Unlock it and prove he acted alone.”
Claire’s voice hardened.
“Give it to me, or I will report you for taking it.”
“Report me.”
For the first time, Claire looked uncertain.
Martin held out his hand to Owen.
“Give me the tablet.
The access records are mine.”
Owen stepped back.
“They belong to the venue.”
Martin grabbed for it.
Peter caught his wrist, and the tablet slid across the table.
The screen came alive.
A message thread was already open.
RUTH KNOWS ABOUT THE PROXY.
KEEP HER OUT UNTIL THE LICENSE IS SIGNED.
Daniel read the lines aloud.
Claire turned to Gavin.
“That could have been altered.”
Naomi inserted Owen’s drive into her laptop.
“Then the server records will decide.”
Gavin lowered his voice.
“Claire, do not say another word.”
Ruth walked to Daniel, but stopped several feet away.
“I should have shown you the invoices the day I found them.”
Daniel did not turn.
“Yes,” he said.
“I thought confronting Claire quietly would protect you.”
“You offered her money.”
“I did.”
“You made me easy to deceive because you were afraid to tell me the truth.”
Ruth pressed both hands to her mouth.
Her knees buckled against the chair.
Daniel caught her before she fell.
“I’m angry,” he said, holding her upright.
“But I won’t let you stand alone.”
Ruth’s forehead touched his shoulder.
“I thought I had lost you.”
“You nearly did,” Daniel whispered.
“But not because you came here.”
Claire watched them, her face tight.
“This touching reunion changes nothing,” she said.
“I have the proxy.”
Naomi’s phone rang.
She answered and put it on speaker.
“Naomi, this is Elise at First County Bank.
We received an emergency transfer request from the company reserve account.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
Peter gripped the table.
“Who authorized it?”
“Claire’s new voting credentials and Daniel’s electronic signature.”
Daniel faced his bride.
“Cancel it.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“I can’t cancel money that has already cleared.”
Elise spoke again.
“There is one more problem.
The destination account belongs to Morrow Event Consulting.”
Every face turned toward Martin.
He shook his head wildly.
“I didn’t request any transfer.”
Claire backed toward the door.
Naomi checked the time on her screen.
“The money moved eleven minutes ago.”
Martin stared at Claire as if seeing her for the first time.
May you like
“You weren’t paying me,” he whispered.
“You were setting me up.”
