Chapter 17 - THE NOTARY
Evelyn Ross was seventy-one and furious before Grace finished explaining why we had come.
“I did not notarize Claire Bennett’s signature last Thursday.”
She pulled her journal from a locked cabinet.
Every notarization was recorded by date, time, document, and identification type.
There was an entry under my name.
But Evelyn had not written it.
“The handwriting isn’t mine.”
Grace photographed the page.
Evelyn checked her stamp.
It was there.
Then she checked the small locked box where she stored an older backup seal.
Empty.
“When did you last see it?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Who had access?”
“My assistant. Cleaning staff. Clients who came into this office.”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
“Damon?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“He came here ten days ago.”
There it was.
“He said Claire needed copies of an old trust certification.”
“Was he alone?”
“No.”
My breath stopped.
Evelyn adjusted her glasses.
“He brought a woman.”
“Lacey?”
Grace showed her a photograph.
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
That answer widened the story without breaking it.
Damon had another helper.
But Evelyn continued before speculation could take over.
“The woman never entered my inner office. Damon did. I stepped out to make a copy.”
Opportunity.
Not proof.
We reported the stolen seal.
Then Evelyn remembered something else.
Her building lobby required visitor sign-in.
We obtained the entry with management’s cooperation.
Damon Bennett.
Guest: Nora Ellis.
Dad swore softly.
Nora was Bennett Development’s deputy controller.
She had worked for the company eleven years.
She handled internal reporting beneath Nathan’s independent audit team.
More importantly, she had access to transfer records.
The financial scheme finally had an internal bridge.
Dad called Nora.
No answer.
Grace told him not to warn her again.
Company IT immediately preserved her email and system activity.
Within two hours, the first results arrived.
Nora had downloaded account statements before each suspicious Morgan Strategic transfer.
She had also altered the internal coding so the payments appeared to be acquisition expenses.
That answered how Damon hid the money from ordinary review.
Not magic.
Not one forged signature.
An insider.
But then Nathan found something that stopped all of us.
Nora had received money too.
Not from Damon.
From Halberd Capital Recovery.
Three payments totaling $180,000.
The lender was not merely Damon’s creditor.
Someone connected to Halberd had been paying the employee helping him conceal the fraud.
May you like
The people threatening Damon may also have been helping him commit it.
📖 Finding Nora explained how millions vanished inside the company, but her payments suggested Damon’s creditor had quietly become part of the machinery. 👇
