Chapter 7: The Chair Beside Mark
Three days later, I entered the company boardroom with Grace, Susan, and a lawyer named Evelyn Price.
Mark sat across from us, and Elise Grant occupied the chair beside him.
Mr.
Harrison placed a recorder in the center of the table.
“This meeting will be documented.”
Mark leaned back.
“Then document that Linda operated the vendor.”
Evelyn opened her folder.
“Mrs.
Carter denies that, and the bank records support her.”
Elise folded her hands.
“Linda’s password authorized every transfer.”
Grace turned her laptop around.
“The access came from Mark’s phone and company computer.”
“Shared devices,” Mark said.
“My wife often visited the office.”
I looked directly at him.
“I have never been inside this building before today.”
“You came to Christmas parties.”
“Show us one transfer made during a Christmas party.”
Mark’s attorney whispered to him, but Mark waved him away.
“This is ridiculous.
Susan witnessed the forms.”
Susan placed the photographs of the false notary seal on the table.
“I witnessed papers he covered with blank sheets.”
“You accepted five thousand dollars,” Mark said.
“I returned it this morning.”
Grace pushed a receipt across the table.
“The funds are being held for the investigation.”
Elise turned toward Mark.
“You said Susan would never speak.”
The room went silent.
Mark’s attorney closed his eyes.
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Would you like to repeat that, Ms.
Grant?”
Elise’s face changed.
“I meant she would never speak against her sister.”
“No,” Mark snapped.
“You meant nothing because you know nothing.”
Mr.
Harrison opened the restored vendor records.
“Elise approved the invoices.
Mark released the payments.
Money then entered an account created under Linda’s identity.”
Elise pushed her chair back.
“He told me Linda owned the company.”
“And the condominium?” I asked.
Her eyes moved toward Mark.
“He said he was separated.”
“I cooked his dinner the night Mr.
Harrison found the invoices.”
Mark looked at me without apology.
“Our private life is irrelevant.”
“It became relevant when you bought property with money attached to my name.”
Tom entered carrying a small black device.
Mark’s face tightened.
“What is he doing here?”
Tom connected the device to the screen.
“This is the complete dashboard recording.
Mark only saw the clip outside the records office.”
The video showed Susan leaving.
Mark remained beside the car and called someone.
Elise’s recorded voice came through the speakers.
“Did she sign everything?”
Mark answered, “Every page.
Linda will take the fall if Harrison finds the account.”
Elise stood so quickly that her chair toppled.
“You said that call was private.”
Mark grabbed the device from Tom and threw it to the floor.
Two security officers moved toward him.
Tom picked it up.
“The original is with the investigators.”
Elise turned on Mark.
“You told me we were leaving together.”
“We still can if you stop talking.”
“You bought one ticket.”
Mark stared at her.
Grace opened the airline record.
“One ticket was bought for Elise.
A second ticket, under Mark’s name, leaves from another airport tonight.”
Elise’s lips parted.
“You were sending me away alone.”
“You approved the invoices,” Mark said.
“You needed to leave first.”
“So I would look guilty while you kept the money?”
Mark’s attorney stood.
“This meeting is over.”
The boardroom door opened.
Two financial investigators entered with a uniformed officer.
“Mark Carter?”
Mark looked at me as the officer approached.
“This is what you wanted, Linda?
To watch your husband be taken away?”
“No.
I wanted you to stop.”
Metal restraints closed around his wrists.
Elise began crying as the second investigator spoke to her.
Mark was guided toward the doorway, but he turned back.
“You think you’ve won?
The house loan is valid.
When they take it, remember you chose this.”
The door closed behind him.
Evelyn’s phone rang before anyone moved.
She listened for several seconds, then looked at me.
“The lender has scheduled possession proceedings for Friday.”
Susan gripped the edge of the table.
“That’s two days away.”
May you like
Evelyn shut her folder.
“And Mark filed a document claiming Linda approved the loan in person.”
