Chapter 5 - The Price of Grief
By the time Claire reached the estate, a deputy sheriff was supervising the removal of selected corporate property.
Victor stood beside the vault elevator.
“You move that silver wreck,” Claire said, “and I’ll seek sanctions against everyone involved.”
Bell answered.
“The order allows preservation.”
“Preservation doesn’t mean removal to Victor’s facility.”
“The company owns the prototype.”
“The prototype is evidence in a reopened death investigation.”
Victor smiled.
“Is it reopened?”
Claire looked toward Detective Ortiz.
Ortiz had arrived minutes earlier.
Her expression answered.
“Not formally,” Ortiz said. “Not yet.”
Victor spread his hands.
“There.”
Claire turned on Bell.
“You knew the police were examining it.”
“The police have not seized it.”
Naomi’s warning echoed.
Power was not truth.
Power was who controlled the room before truth arrived.
Claire blocked the transporter.
“The court order doesn’t permit destruction or alteration.”
“No one intends either,” Bell said.
She photographed every page.
Then she noticed something.
The order covered “corporate vehicles and proprietary vehicle systems.”
Not Adrian’s personal effects.
“The helmet stays.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Bell read again.
Claire was right.
Leo appeared above the stairs holding the cracked helmet against his chest.
Victor pointed.
“The communication hardware is proprietary.”
“The module is gone,” Claire replied. “Remember?”
Victor said nothing.
Claire turned to Ortiz.
“I want that noted.”
“It is.”
For one moment, Victor lost.
Only one.
The silver wreck still left on a flatbed.
Claire watched it disappear up the ramp.
Leo came beside her.
“They’re taking Dad again.”
The sentence destroyed her.
She knelt.
“No. They’re taking a car.”
“You said things can be evidence.”
“Yes.”
“So what if they change it?”
Claire looked toward Victor.
That was exactly what she feared.
That afternoon she retained independent counsel: Daniel Cho, a former federal prosecutor now handling corporate investigations.
He read the voting proxy and redemption agreement.
“You have problems,” he said.
“How many?”
“Enough that I’m not going to lie to you.”
“Can Victor sell Adrian’s shares?”
“Not immediately. But he has significant voting power under this proxy unless we invalidate it.”
“I signed under deception.”
“That helps.”
“I was medicated.”
“That can help if impairment was severe and known.”
“Bell told me he represented the family.”
“That helps more.”
Claire leaned forward.
“What hurts?”
Daniel looked at her.
“You were a lawyer.”
She understood.
A court would expect her to read what she signed.
Grief was human.
But signatures were still signatures.
“I made a catastrophic mistake.”
“Yes.”
No comfort.
She appreciated him for that.
“What do we attack first?”
“The underlying transaction. If the redemption trigger depended on Adrian violating company testing protocols in the Raven, and Adrian was actually driving another car during an authorized test, Victor’s certification may be fraudulent.”
Naomi added, “Adrian scheduled a test that night.”
“Can you prove it?”
“I saw the calendar.”
“Do you have it?”
“No.”
Daniel turned to Claire.
“That’s the case. Not suspicions. Evidence.”
Leo knocked.
Claire let him enter.
He carried the helmet.
“Mom, I found something.”
Daniel smiled politely.
“What?”
Leo placed the helmet on the table.
“Dad fixed everything twice.”
Claire looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“He said race cars need backups.”
Leo pointed inside the helmet lining.
One section felt thicker.
Claire carefully peeled back the damaged padding.
A paper-thin circuit strip was sewn beneath it.
Not the module Victor stole.
A second device.
Naomi whispered, “Adrian, you paranoid genius.”
Leo grinned for the first time.
Claire did not.
Because Victor had thrown the helmet hard enough to crack the shell.
The strip had broken in two.
Daniel examined it.
“Can it be recovered?”
Naomi said, “Maybe.”
Leo’s smile disappeared.
Claire touched the crack.
Her own son’s clue had been damaged because she had failed to protect him from Victor.
That night, Naomi brought the circuit strip to a forensic electronics lab.
At 11:42 p.m., Claire received a call.
“We got partial data,” Naomi said.
“What kind?”
“Audio fragments. Vehicle authentication. Some encrypted files.”
“And the recording?”
“Most of it’s locked.”
“What unlocks it?”
“I think Adrian designed dual authentication.”
“Two hands start a race.”
“Exactly.”
“What’s the second key?”
Naomi hesitated.
“That’s the problem.”
“Tell me.”
“The system identifier says the second key isn’t another device.”
“What is it?”
“A person.”
Claire went silent.
May you like
Naomi continued.
“The biometric authorization is registered to you.”
