Chapter 6 - THE SIGNATURE THAT EXPOSED HIM
The first forensic report arrived eleven days later.
It was worse than Margaret had expected.
Hale Capital's internal accounting records showed consulting payments to Arden Advisory that had not been properly disclosed to the investment committee.
The payments were linked to the proposed Westhaven acquisition.
Several invoices lacked sufficient supporting documentation.
One listed a strategic analysis that appeared to have been copied from a publicly available industry report.
Another billed more than four hundred thousand dollars for a presentation that consisted of twelve slides.
I stared at the evidence.
“Julian approved these?”
Margaret nodded.
“His electronic authorization appears on the payment records.”
“And Sloane received the money?”
“Arden Advisory received it. Investigators will need to establish where it went afterward.”
I leaned back.
The engagement ring had not been an extravagant romantic gesture.
It had been purchased in the middle of a series of questionable financial transactions.
And the diamond itself belonged to my trust.
Margaret placed another document in front of me.
“There's something else.”
It was a guarantee agreement.
Julian had pledged certain assets as security for a private loan.
The agreement referenced my name.
My trust.
And a supposed authorization for the use of trust property.
I read the signature.
It looked like mine.
But I had never signed it.
I remembered Julian asking me to sign a stack of papers months earlier.
He had called them routine household documents.
I had refused to sign without reading them.
He had been irritated.
Apparently, he had found another way.
“Can we prove this signature isn't mine?”
“We can obtain a forensic document examination. We also have your travel records, document-management logs, and the trust's authorization procedures.”
I looked at Margaret.
“Who has the original?”
“The lender has been instructed to preserve it.”
I nodded.
“Then let the evidence speak.”
That evening, Julian appeared on a business news program.
He smiled confidently.
Spoke about growth.
Described Hale Capital as a firm built on integrity.
I turned off the television.
Then I looked at the framed photograph of my father on the mantel.
“You were right,” I whispered.
He used to tell me that character was easiest to measure when someone believed nobody was checking.
May you like
Julian had believed that for eight years.
He was about to discover otherwise.
