Chapter 4 - A Forged Signature
The photograph showed a letter on what looked like Great Lakes Regional Health stationery.
My name appeared above a signature that wasn't mine.
The letter claimed I had accepted a temporary administrative position while an executive search continued.
It was dated two weeks after my appointment became official.
"Where did she get this?" I asked.
"She says an old friend at the hospital sent it."
I asked Erin to forward the image without altering it.
She hesitated.
"Are you angry with me?"
"I'm trying to understand why our mother has been collecting false information about me."
"I thought she was telling the truth."
"That's what made it work."
At the hospital, Teresa met me in the command center with two cups of coffee.
I showed her the photograph privately.
Her forehead tightened.
"That letterhead is from an older branding package."
"I noticed."
"And the signature line is wrong."
We sent the image to general counsel and agreed that no one would speculate about its origin.
The ransomware incident required every ounce of available attention.
At 8:40 that night, a recovery team confirmed a clean, isolated backup for a vital scheduling service.
The room erupted in exhausted relief.
I allowed myself one smile before the next problem arrived.
A reporter had contacted our communications office asking whether the CEO had misrepresented her appointment.
The reporter cited an unnamed family source.
My hand went cold.
"Do not respond with my personal history," I told communications.
"Respond with the board's public appointment record and nothing more."
An hour later, my father called.
"Your mother says you're threatening to sue her."
"I haven't threatened anyone."
He exhaled heavily.
"She says you're destroying the family."
I looked through the glass at nurses collecting fresh downtime forms.
"Dad, she told my sister I forged an appointment."
He was silent.
"Did you know about that document?" I asked.
"No."
Then his voice dropped.
"But I know who used to work in the hospital's public relations office."
He said a name.
I knew it immediately.
May you like
The name matched the person who had sent my mother flowers every birthday for fifteen years.
