Chapter 13 - Seventy-Two Hours
The judge gave attorneys seventy-two hours to present arguments about control of Emily's shares.
Until then, no disputed proxy could be used.
It was a narrow victory with a hard deadline.
Richard's board was preparing to approve a restructuring that would move valuable contracts into a new subsidiary.
If the plan went through, investigators could follow the money, but recovering the assets would become harder.
If it failed, the board's own records might reveal which directors had known about the safety fraud.
Emily insisted on attending the emergency hearing remotely.
Her doctors said she could participate briefly if her condition remained stable.
I wanted to tell her she owed these people nothing.
She reminded me that she was the person they had tried to erase.
“I don't have to stand up to be heard,” she said.
“Then we'll make sure they hear you.”
Ortiz warned that the key could be part of a carefully staged discovery.
The locker contained genuine evidence, but it also contained documents tying Daniel Mercer to the crash through inconsistent identities.
If prosecutors relied on those documents without independent verification, a defense attorney could challenge the entire chain.
Emily reviewed photographs of the locker from her hospital bed.
She recognized the chair and three boxes.
The metal cabinet wasn't hers.
“Somebody added it,” she said.
“How do you know?”
“The back corner was empty when I last went there.”
The cabinet had been delivered two days before the assault.
Its purchase invoice used a shell company linked to Samuel Keene.
That discovery reframed the anonymous photograph.
Someone had wanted us to find the locker.
Someone had inserted material alongside Emily's authentic records.
But why place evidence there that implicated Margaret?
Ortiz considered the possibility of rival factions.
Richard and Margaret were not a single conspiracy with a single goal.
They were fighting over the company, and both were willing to weaponize investigators to hurt the other.
A dead woman's return had terrified Richard because her testimony could destroy him.
Richard's arrest threatened Margaret because the same books could expose her own role.
I thought of all the years they had fooled their children into choosing sides.
The conflict wasn't a family argument.
It was a business model built on dependence and secrecy.
The morning of the hearing, Richard's attorney submitted a new declaration.
It claimed Emily had voluntarily authorized Keene to manage her shares because I was emotionally unstable and likely to exploit her condition.
Attached was a statement supposedly written by Emily.
She read the first line and went very still.
“That's not my handwriting.”
A nurse helped position the tablet so the camera could see her face.
Emily insisted the court receive the original document, not a scan.
The judge ordered preservation of the paper and ink for forensic examination.
Keene's attorney requested a delay.
The judge refused.
Then the board's counsel made an announcement nobody expected.
“Your Honor, the company has received notice that its largest voting trust has been dissolved.”
Emily shook her head.
“That can't happen without my consent.”
“According to the notice,” counsel said, “the trust ended upon the death of its named beneficiary.”
The hearing room went silent.
The company had filed a document declaring Emily dead.
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While she was appearing alive on the court's video screen.
