Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO SIGNED AWAY HOPE
“Stephen, did you approve Margaret Doyle's settlement?”
Erin didn't bother with pleasantries.
Stephen Perry stood beside his car outside Grace Ellis's office, holding a paper cup of coffee.
He looked at the document in her hand.
“What settlement?”
Erin pointed to his signature.
“The one you authorized in June.”
Stephen's eyes narrowed.
He took the page.
For almost a full minute, he said nothing.
Then he looked at Erin.
“That's my signature.”
“I know.”
“But I didn't approve Margaret Doyle's settlement.”
“Then what did you sign?”
He stared at the page again.
“A revised payment schedule.”
“That is a revised payment schedule.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“The document I saw listed temporary administrative changes. There were no final settlements.”
Erin folded her arms.
“Are you saying Matthew switched the pages?”
“I'm saying I need to see the original packet.”
Grace opened the office door behind them.
“Then come inside.”
By eleven that morning, Stephen had produced a copy of the cover sheet he'd retained in June.
It referred to routine address corrections and payment-processing changes.
There was no mention of terminating beneficiaries.
But the attachment number matched the revised schedule bearing his signature.
Grace laid both documents side by side.
“The cover sheet and the attachment need to be examined together,” she said. “This could be a substituted attachment or an approval made without adequate review.”
Stephen sank into a chair.
“I signed the cover without reading every supporting page.”
Erin stared at him.
“You signed away people's benefits without checking who was affected?”
“I trusted Matthew.”
“So did I.”
He looked up.
Those three words hurt him more than an accusation would have.
“Erin, I'm sorry.”
She didn't answer immediately.
Her anger was real.
But so was the shame on his face.
“Then help me find the original.”
Stephen nodded.
“I will.”
Grace crossed her arms.
“And this time, every page gets checked.”
At the Harrison estate, Matthew was having a much less pleasant morning.
Donald Berry sat across from him in the study.
The Christmas decorations remained untouched.
Erin's stocking still hung beside the fireplace.
Matthew had ordered the staff to leave everything exactly as it was.
Donald noticed.
“Are you expecting her to come home?”
“She'll come back.”
“That's becoming a rather expensive assumption.”
Matthew's expression hardened.
“The records she sent have complicated our partnership.”
“Our partnership?” Donald repeated.
“Your trustees are asking questions. Stephen wants an independent review. Frank Delaney won't approve the route agreement until the fund is reconciled.”
Matthew poured himself coffee.
“We can satisfy them.”
“Then where are the original records?”
Matthew set down the pot.
“In storage.”
“Get them.”
“I will.”
Donald studied him.
“Your father built a business that men respected. You inherited a business that people are beginning to question.”
Matthew's jaw tightened.
“Don't mention my father.”
Donald leaned forward.
“Then stop behaving like a boy who needs somebody to rescue him.”
Matthew looked away.
Donald softened his voice.
“I'm trying to protect Alexis. She's pregnant. Whatever happens between you and Erin, my daughter cannot be dragged through a financial scandal.”
Matthew laughed bitterly.
“You think Erin cares about Alexis?”
“I think your wife is a better bookkeeper than you gave her credit for.”
For once, Donald sounded worried.
That afternoon, Alexis returned to her father's apartment in Manhattan.
She had spent the morning thinking about the blue bracelet.
Its receipt.
Its expense code.
And the way Matthew had looked at her when she questioned Erin's departure.
She found Donald standing in his home office reviewing documents.
“Daddy, what is Northline Equipment?”
He kept reading.
“A contracting company.”
“Who owns it?”
“Why?”
“Because Matthew bought me a bracelet using an account connected to that company.”
Donald looked up.
“Alexis, stay out of this.”
“I'm already in it.”
He placed the papers down.
“You're carrying my grandchild. Your priority should be your health.”
“Everybody keeps telling me what my priority should be.”
Donald frowned.
“There's no need to become difficult.”
She stared at him.
“That's what Matthew says when I ask questions.”
Her father looked offended.
“I'm not Matthew.”
“Then answer me.”
Donald straightened his papers.
“Northline is a corporate vehicle established for equipment purchasing. That's all you need to know.”
“Why won't you tell me who owns it?”
“Because you don't understand the business.”
Alexis felt tears sting her eyes.
“I understand when somebody's hiding something from me.”
Donald sighed.
“Sweetheart, everything I'm doing is for your future.”
She heard the same words Matthew had used.
And suddenly they sounded like a warning.
Meanwhile, Grace had obtained the fund's original governing agreement from Stephen.
It required two trustees to approve substantial changes to beneficiary payments.
And it specifically prohibited replacing long-term benefits with settlements unless the recipients consented.
Erin studied the provision.
“So Stephen's signature wasn't enough.”
“No,” Grace said.
“Then whose was the second?”
Grace opened another page.
A second authorization existed.
It carried Matthew Harrison's name.
Underneath was an electronic approval reference.
The approval had been entered through the fund administrator's system on June twenty-third.
Erin remembered that date.
She had been at home recovering from a frightening pregnancy complication.
Matthew had told her to stop working.
He'd brought her soup.
Sat beside her bed.
Promised nothing mattered more than keeping her and the baby healthy.
She had thanked him for being patient.
Now she wondered whether he'd simply been relieved she wasn't near the office.
Grace studied the approval references.
“There's something else. The beneficiary list and the equipment invoices share the same internal project number.”
“What does that mean?”
“It suggests the payment reductions and the equipment charges were tracked as parts of the same project.”
Stephen looked up sharply.
“Matthew said the payment suspensions were caused by administrative delays.”
Grace pointed to the figures.
“The amounts tell a different story.”
Three million one hundred thousand dollars.
Removed from the relief fund.
Charged through Northline Equipment.
And supported by documentation Matthew claimed Erin had approved.
Erin felt the baby move.
She took a slow breath.
“Can we prove Northline received the money?”
“Not without the banking records,” Grace answered. “But Stephen can formally request them.”
He nodded.
“Then that's what we'll do.”
Erin looked at the names of the affected families.
They were no longer abstract figures.
They were people who had trusted Joseph Harrison's promise.
And she had helped prepare reports that made everything appear normal.
“Grace, how do we fix this?”
“First, we establish what happened. Then we make sure the families aren't forgotten again.”
Late that evening, Alexis searched through a folder her father had once given her.
It contained apartment documents, insurance papers, and the financial arrangements he'd described as protection for her baby.
One page referred to Northline Equipment.
Another contained a corporate registration number.
She examined the ownership section.
Then she read it again.
Her hands began trembling.
Northline's controlling member wasn't her father.
It wasn't Matthew.
May you like
The legal ownership paperwork named someone who had never knowingly agreed to run a contracting business.
Alexis Berry.
