Chapter 7 — The Man Behind the Signature
By sunrise, the hotel was surrounded by police vehicles and news vans.
The fire had been contained to the seventh floor.
No guests were seriously injured.
Daniel Voss was in custody for theft, but he refused to answer questions.
Celeste had left the hotel before police established probable cause to detain her.
Richard gathered his senior executives in a private conference room.
Only six people had access to his digital signature.
Priya stood beside the door.
Lena sat near Walter’s empty chair.
One by one, the executives denied knowing North Coast Consulting.
Then Richard placed the forged documents on the table.
His chief operating officer, Martin Vale, looked down for half a second too long.
Lena noticed.
“So,” Richard said, “we will review every payment made to this company.”
Martin cleared his throat.
“That could take weeks.”
“It will take hours.”
“Our systems aren’t designed—”
“I designed them.”
Martin’s mouth closed.
Richard had built the hotel group from a single failing property twenty-seven years earlier.
People often mistook his tailored suits for inherited wealth.
They forgot he had written the company’s first accounting software himself.
Richard connected a laptop to the conference display.
Transactions appeared.
North Coast had received payments from six Ashford properties.
Each payment had been approved from Martin’s executive account.
Martin stood.
“This meeting is over.”
Priya blocked the door.
“No, it isn’t.”
Martin turned toward Richard.
“You can’t hold me here.”
Richard’s voice remained quiet.
“You’re free to leave after surrendering your company devices.”
“I’m calling my attorney.”
“Use the conference phone.”
Martin reached into his jacket.
Priya’s hand moved toward her holster.
But Martin did not pull out a phone.
He pulled out a small remote.
Lena saw a red button beneath his thumb.
“Don’t press that.”
Martin smiled.
“You have no idea what you’ve walked into.”
He pressed it.
May you like
Every computer screen in the room went black.
Then the building’s entire financial archive began deleting itself.
