Chapter 9: The Walls Come Down
Gerald Foss was a small man with a large desk and the expression of someone who had recently discovered something unpleasant in a drawer he thought he'd locked.
He stood when Adrian walked in.
Shook his hand.
Offered coffee.
Adrian declined.
"I'll be direct," Foss said, sitting back down.
"When Miss Vanessa came to us six weeks ago, she presented herself as a family representative.
She said she was acting on your behalf — that you were aware of the guardianship arrangement and had asked her to initiate the paperwork."
"I never asked her to do anything," Adrian said.
"I understand that now." Foss opened a folder.
"She provided what appeared to be a signed letter of authorization from you.
We had no reason to question it at the time." He slid a document across the desk.
Adrian looked at it.
At the signature at the bottom.
"That's not my signature," he said.
"No," Foss said.
"I suspected as much when I compared it this morning to the signature on file from a previous matter your firm handled through our office three years ago." He paused.
"The discrepancy is significant."
"She forged it," Adrian said.
"It appears so." Foss folded his hands.
"Which means the guardianship document was initiated under false pretenses, using a fraudulent authorization.
The document has no legal standing.
But more importantly—" He stopped.
Chose his next words carefully.
"More importantly, what she did constitutes document fraud.
Potentially identity fraud as well, depending on how the authorization was presented."
Adrian sat back.
"Mr.
Calloway, I want to be transparent with you.
My firm should have verified the authorization more rigorously.
We didn't.
That's a failure on our part and I'm prepared to acknowledge it formally." Foss met his eyes.
"But I also want you to know that the moment I identified the discrepancy this morning, I called you.
I haven't contacted Miss Vanessa.
I haven't given her any indication that I've found this."
"She doesn't know you've seen it," Adrian said.
"Not yet."
Adrian was quiet for a moment.
Outside the office window, the city moved at its ordinary pace.
"I need everything," Adrian said.
"Every document she brought you.
Every communication.
Every instruction she gave your office.
I need it all."
"I've already had it compiled," Foss said.
He pushed a second folder across the desk.
"And I've spoken to our senior partner this morning.
We will cooperate fully with any formal investigation."
Adrian opened the folder.
Read the first page.
Then the second.
He closed it.
"She told your office," he said slowly, "that Emma's mother — my late wife — had expressed a wish for Vanessa to be Emma's guardian.
Before she passed."
"She did," Foss said quietly.
"My wife never said that.
Not to me.
Not in any document.
Not to anyone."
"I believe you."
Adrian stood up.
He picked up both folders.
"I'm going to need a formal statement from your office," he said.
"And I'm going to need it before the end of the day."
"It will be ready," Foss said.
Adrian walked to the door.
Then stopped.
"Mr.
Foss." He didn't turn around.
"My wife trusted Vanessa.
Completely.
For years." A pause.
"Did Vanessa ever mention her?
In any of your meetings?"
Foss was quiet for a moment.
"Once," he said.
"She said your wife would have wanted this."
Adrian nodded slowly.
He opened the door and walked out.
By three o'clock that afternoon, he was sitting across from a family law solicitor named Grace Chen, with Olivia beside him and both folders on the table between them.
Grace read through the documents without speaking.
When she finished, she set them down and looked at Adrian.
"Document fraud," she said.
"Forged authorization.
A drafted guardianship claim built on a fabricated premise." She paused.
"And you have camera footage of her in the house at the time of the incident with the stroller?"
"Full resolution," Adrian said.
"And a written statement from an eyewitness."
Grace nodded.
She picked up her pen.
May you like
"Then we file," she said.
"Today."
