Wedding Eve Goodbye novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Ledger

Dominic stood up out of the wet grass without a word.

He did not look at the chairman.

He looked at Rhonda.

"On what grounds?" he asked.

The chairman held out the folder.

"Thirty-six payments, one a month, from the company's accounts to a Mina Lowell," he said. "Two million one hundred thousand dollars."

"I never paid her a cent from the company."

"The ledger says you did, with your signature on every page."

Rhonda pressed a black glove to her mouth.

"I only found it by accident," she said. "I was so afraid for Elin."

I took the folder out of the chairman's hand.

I laid it open on the top of my father's headstone and turned the pages.

Every page was signed D. Haldane, and every capital D ended in a little hooked tail.

"Look at this," I said. "He doesn't sign like this."

"Miss Marden, you are not a member of the board," the chairman said.

"I read his note this morning. I know his hand. He crosses his D straight, with no hook."

"Then the auditors will say so. In seven days."

Dominic held out his company keycard.

"I'm not going to fight you in a graveyard," he said.

"Dominic," I said.

"Take it."

The chairman took it, and Rhonda smiled her soft smile at me over the gravestones.

"The full board meets at two o'clock to make it official," the chairman said. "Mr. Haldane, you are welcome to leave quietly."

"He won't be leaving quietly," I said.

At two o'clock I walked into the Haldane Freight tower with the knees of my jeans still green from the grass.

A guard stepped in front of the boardroom doors.

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