The Man Behind the Board
Chapter 14 - The Man Behind the Board
His name was Victor Lang.
He had served on the Bellmore board for thirty-four years and controlled several banks holding the hotel’s debt.
Publicly, Victor was a respected philanthropist.
Privately, he had approved the unsafe wiring with Margaret.
If the missing file became public, he could face criminal charges and civil lawsuits.
Victor requested a meeting.
He arrived at the hotel the next morning without attorneys and asked to speak with me inside the empty ballroom.
The remains of my wedding flowers still covered the altar.
“I can eliminate your debt,” he said.
“What do you want?”
“The original fire records.”
“Margaret already gave them to you.”
His expression barely changed.
“She gave me one document. There are others.”
Victor believed Room 614 contained copies.
He did not know Henry had already scanned the recovered evidence case.
“You helped frame my mother.”
“I helped protect an institution that employed hundreds of people.”
“You protected yourself.”
“Sometimes those are the same thing.”
I had heard the same logic from Margaret.
Powerful people often treated their personal survival like a public service.
Victor placed a contract on the table. If I sold him the Bellmore for one dollar, he would clear the debt and preserve employee jobs for twelve months.
After that, he could demolish the hotel and build luxury condominiums.
“You have until tomorrow’s board meeting,” he said.
Daniel entered after Victor left.
He had heard the conversation through the recording system.
“Let me testify,” he said.
“About what?”
“The trust amendment.”
Daniel remembered signing a packet six weeks earlier. Margaret told him it was authorization for hotel renovations.
His signature on the trust dissolution request might be genuine.
“If I testify that she deceived me, it could invalidate the request,” he said.
“It could also implicate you.”
“I know.”
“You could lose your professional license.”
“I know.”
“And possibly face charges.”
“I know.”
The old Daniel would have asked me to reassure him.
This Daniel simply waited.
“I’m not going to tell you what choice to make,” I said.
“I’m not asking you to.”
He left to meet with prosecutors.
That afternoon, Henry received the forensic analysis of the fire documents.
One signature belonged to Victor.
The other belonged to my mother.
The report appeared to show that Nora Carter had personally approved the unsafe wiring.
For the first time, even Henry had no explanation.
“If this is genuine,” he said, “Margaret’s story about your mother may not have been entirely false.”
I stared at Mom’s signature.
May you like
Then I noticed the date.
My mother had supposedly signed the approval while she was hospitalized giving birth to me.
