Chapter 6 - The Signature at the Bottom of the Page
Dominic spent the morning staring at a photocopy of his sister's signature and trying not to remember her hands.
Laura's handwriting had always leaned to the right. She used an enormous L because their mother had taught her to write her name as if she were signing a painting. The grant application carried the same enormous L, but the last stroke had been drawn backward. Dominic knew that detail because he'd once forged Laura's signature on a permission slip when they were children, and she'd laughed at how badly he'd done it.
He had never imagined seeing another counterfeit after her death.
"I need the originals," he told his attorney, Caroline Shaw.
"We'll request the grant file and the property transaction records," she said. "But first, I need to know whether you authorized any of this."
"I signed papers Sal brought me. Building purchase. Operating agreement. I don't know what he attached afterward."
"That's a serious answer. Don't turn it into a better one because you're ashamed."
Dominic leaned back. He had spent years telling people that nothing happened in his businesses without his approval. That boast now sounded less like power than evidence of negligence.
Meanwhile, Chloe had taken a temporary job helping Miriam coordinate meals at the church. The pay was modest; the work ended at four, leaving time to collect Sam herself. On her first afternoon, a woman named Evelyn Cho arrived carrying a cardboard box of records from Laura's accounting office. Evelyn had been the payroll supervisor before Nicky started approving everything personally.
"I didn't steal anything," Evelyn said before sitting down.
"Then tell us what you know," Nadine replied.
Evelyn looked at Chloe. "I entered the hours I was given. Nicky changed the final file before payroll ran. He said the difference went into a staff-benefit fund."
"Did you ask to see the fund?" Chloe asked.
"I did. He told me my husband wouldn't be able to afford his treatment if I lost my health insurance. He knew exactly what to say."
She opened the box. Inside were printed change logs, time sheets, and internal emails she'd saved when discrepancies began. Some showed Nicky overriding amounts with his own credentials. Others showed a higher-level approval from an account labeled SR-ADMIN. Chloe did not mistake that for proof of who sat at the computer. It was a lead, and Nadine wrote it down as such.
"Why bring these now?" Chloe asked.
Evelyn's eyes filled. "Because I watched Rosa's dishwasher count change at the last minute. He has a daughter in college. He thanked me for getting him the job. I kept telling myself I didn't know enough to stop it."
"You can help us establish what happened," Nadine said. "We'll talk through the risks and your options before anyone contacts an investigator."
Evelyn nodded. When she left, Chloe felt something unfamiliar: relief that the burden of proving the truth had begun to move from one exhausted woman to several people acting together.
She carried lunch to the church volunteers. Miriam had set aside food for a widower named Mr. Bennett, who lived two blocks away and pretended he couldn't walk to avoid admitting he couldn't afford transportation. Chloe delivered it herself. He insisted on giving her three tomatoes he'd grown on his windowsill.
"Tell the cook the stew could use pepper," he said.
"I'll tell her you approved it except for the pepper."
"I didn't approve the carrots, either."
She laughed all the way down the stairs. It startled her. She'd forgotten that laughter could arrive without anyone paying for it.
That night, Dominic asked to meet with Nadine and Chloe in a neutral conference room. Caroline came with him. He laid a folder on the table and did not reach for it again.
"The grant application was forged," he said. "We have comparative signatures, but the relevant agency will have to make its own findings. The building was purchased partly with funds obtained using that application. Sal arranged it. I signed the operating agreement and ignored where his contribution came from."
"You benefited," Chloe said.
"Yes."
"And when he began using the center as an imaginary customer?"
"I approved the program's continuation without verifying deliveries. I signed reports Nicky prepared. I'm responsible for those approvals."
Caroline shifted in her chair but did not interrupt.
"What are you going to do?" Nadine asked.
"Make an initial payment into an independently administered fund for unpaid staff wages and the missing meals. My attorneys are contacting the relevant investigators. I won't let Sal control the company records."
"A payment isn't immunity," Nadine said.
"I know."
Chloe turned the folder toward herself. The proposed fund was not a solution until workers reviewed it, but at least the figures existed. She pushed it toward Nadine for independent evaluation.
"Did your sister really want to open a restaurant?" Chloe asked.
Dominic's composure changed. "She wanted a bakery on the first floor and a place upstairs where kids could learn to cook. She said food should never be a test you fail because you can't pay."
Chloe thought of Sam scraping syrup from his diner plate while she decided whether to accept Dominic's offer. It was the first time she had understood the name Laura as something more complicated than a marble sign.
"You can honor her by telling the truth," she said. "Not by telling me what she would've wanted."
Dominic accepted that. They were gathering their papers when Paulie called him. Caroline saw the expression on Dominic's face and asked what had happened.
"A city inspector went to North Pier's largest warehouse," Dominic said. "Somebody reported a possible fire hazard. The building was locked, but an employee let the inspector see the loading bay."
"And?" Chloe asked.
"There are pallets of sealed meal trays. Enough for months. Some are spoiled."
Miriam's missing meals had been sitting on a loading dock while families lined up at her church.
Dominic looked at the folder on the table. "The invoices weren't for imaginary food. They ordered real meals, billed a charity for them, and never delivered them."
May you like
Chloe's voice came out flat. "So where did the good food go?"
Paulie spoke loudly enough for the room to hear. "Boss, someone removed the date labels. But the delivery manifests say the next shipment leaves tonight. Destination: a private prison contractor outside the city."
