The 23rd Deletion Bride novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Harvard

"What year did you graduate, Delaney?" I said.

I said it kindly, in the same tone she had used on me for eight months.

Her chin lifted.

"Twenty nineteen."

"From the Harvard MBA program."

"Yes."

"Honors?"

"I just said so."

"That's wonderful," I said. "Because the fund runs a background check on every executive at its portfolio companies."

I turned in the chair.

"Cullen?"

He opened the blue folder and took out a single page.

He held it up so the people on the balcony could see the letterhead.

"This came back in June," he said. "It's a verification from the registrar of Harvard Business School."

His voice carried to the top floor.

"Delaney Frost enrolled in September of 2018. She withdrew in November of 2019, in her second term."

"She did not complete the program. She holds no degree."

Nobody on the ground floor moved.

Then, on the balcony above us, someone said, very softly, "Oh my God."

"That's a forgery," Delaney said.

"It's a letter from the registrar."

"Anyone can print a letter."

"Then call them," Cullen said. "The number is at the bottom."

Delaney's face had lost its color, all at once.

She looked at Dalton.

He was staring at his shoes.

"I sent a copy of this letter to Mr. Amory in July," Cullen went on.

"My note said his executive assistant had misrepresented her credentials. I asked him to take it up with her."

"I never saw that," Dalton said.

"You replied on the eleventh." Cullen took a second page from the folder.

"You wrote: I'll handle it. Don't put anything in front of the board."

He held that up too.

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