Chapter 5 - The SignatureThe document Skylar never signed
Derek spent three days pretending nothing was wrong.
He called Skylar twenty-eight times.
Then he sent messages.
First anger.
Then apologies.
Then promises.
Then threats disguised as concern.
You can't destroy our family over one mistake.
Come home.
Suzanne is sorry.
I am sorry.
You know I love you.
Then:
You will regret doing this.
Skylar saved every message.
Mara told her not to respond.
Meanwhile, the forensic investigation expanded.
The car tampering was confirmed.
Someone had deliberately altered a component.
The modification could have caused intermittent failure.
Not guaranteed.
But enough.
Enough to make the driver lose control at the wrong moment.
Alvarez called it “potentially catastrophic.”
Skylar called it what it was.
An attempt.
But they still needed a direct link to Derek.
Then Mara found it.
A bank employee called at 9:15 a.m.
“There is something you should see.”
Skylar and Mara went to the bank.
The employee pulled up a document.
It showed a request to add Derek as an authorized user on one of Skylar's investment accounts.
Date:
Six months earlier.
Skylar stared at the screen.
“I never did this.”
“I know.”
The employee enlarged the authorization form.
Skylar's signature appeared at the bottom.
Mara frowned.
“It's another digital reproduction.”
Then the employee showed them the IP address used to submit the form.
Miami.
Residential network.
Skylar recognized it immediately.
Her apartment.
Mara looked at Alvarez.
“That gives us a starting point.”
But the worst discovery came later that evening.
The investment account had been used to request a transfer.
$62,000.
Destination:
S. Mercer Consulting.
Status:
Pending.
Skylar's stomach dropped.
“Can you stop it?”
The bank manager nodded.
“We already did.”
But he wasn't finished.
“There was another request.”
He opened the next document.
A loan agreement.
Skylar's name.
Derek's name.
Collateral:
Skylar's apartment.
Amount:
$180,000.
And below it was a signature.
Her signature.
Skylar stared at it.
Then something clicked.
The way the pen pressure changed.
The way the final letter leaned.
The tiny extra mark after her middle initial.
She had seen it before.
On a document Derek had once asked her to sign.
Skylar looked at Mara.
“This isn't my signature.”
Mara nodded.
“No.”
Skylar pointed at the page.
“But I know whose it is.”
“Whose?”
“Derek's.”
Silence.
Skylar had spent years seeing his handwriting.
Birthday cards.
Grocery notes.
Mortgage paperwork.
Christmas lists.
She knew the shape.
Derek had copied her signature so many times that he had unconsciously started writing it like himself.
The bank manager printed the document.
Then he printed another.
Then another.
There were seven fraudulent forms.
Seven.
Skylar's eyes burned.
“How much money was he trying to borrow?”
Mara calculated.
“One hundred and eighty thousand from the equity line.”
“And the other?”
“Sixty-two thousand from your investment account.”
Skylar stared at the total.
“Two hundred and forty-two thousand dollars.”
Mara nodded.
“That's what we've found so far.”
Skylar laughed softly.
“So all those arguments about Suzanne needing my card…”
“They were distractions,” Mara said.
“Distractions from what?”
Mara leaned forward.
“From draining you.”
That night, Skylar returned to the hotel.
She sat alone.
She opened the last message Derek had sent.
You never trusted me.
She typed one reply.
Then deleted it.
She opened another file instead.
The apartment deed.
The investment records.
The insurance policy.
The car report.
The forged signatures.
One by one, she placed everything into a folder.
Then she wrote a title.
MERCER FRAUD FILE
At 11:47 p.m., Detective Alvarez called.
“We found something.”
Skylar sat upright.
“What?”
“The electronic device from your utility closet.”
“What about it?”
“We ran the serial number.”
“And?”
“It wasn't a random device.”
“What was it?”
Alvarez paused.
“It was registered to a company.”
Skylar's heart hammered.
“Which company?”
“Mercer Risk Solutions.”
Skylar knew the name.
Derek had once claimed it was an insurance consulting company belonging to a friend.
But the detective continued.
“The registered owner isn't Derek Mercer.”
Skylar frowned.
“Who is?”
“His sister.”
Suzanne.
May you like
And then Alvarez said the sentence that changed the entire investigation.
“Skylar, I think we've been looking at the wrong person.”
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