Chapter 3 - THE MAN WEARING DANIEL’S NAME
Annie remembered his face.
That was the first thing Daniel asked.
“Would you recognize him again?”
She nodded.
“He had glasses then.”
“Anything else?”
“A scar.”
She touched the right side of her chin.
“Here.”
Daniel and I looked at each other.
We both knew a man with that scar.
Eric Vale.
Former security operations director for Graves Medical Technologies.
He had been fired eighteen months earlier after an internal review found irregularities in vendor bidding.
Victoria had personally argued against firing him.
I had overruled her.
“Why would Annie think he was you?” I asked.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Because employees who don’t interact with me could be told almost anything.”
Annie looked between us.
“He introduced himself as Daniel Price.”
“And Victoria didn’t correct him?”
“No.”
That was the important part.
She knew exactly who Daniel was.
So either Annie misremembered—which I doubted—or my sister had knowingly participated in a false introduction.
I asked Annie to describe the blue folder.
“Employee medical forms.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw the label.”
Daniel asked:
“Did Eric leave with it?”
“Yes.”
“Was your prosthetic request inside?”
“I hadn’t filed it yet.”
Interesting.
So whatever Eric and Victoria were doing had started before Annie requested new equipment.
This was bigger.
We reviewed archived security footage from Annie’s orientation day.
Someone had deleted six hours.
Not lost.
Deleted.
The deletion credentials belonged to Daniel.
He stared at the screen.
“That is impossible.”
I believed him.
The deeper we went, the more often his identity appeared in places he had never been.
Someone had cloned access profiles.
We shut down his credentials immediately.
Then we searched Eric Vale’s old corporate connections.
He was now a consultant for a company called Meridian Workforce Solutions.
The name meant nothing to me.
Daniel searched our vendor database.
Then stopped.
Meridian had received $3.2 million from various Graves entities during the previous year.
“For what?”
“Employee-risk consulting.”
I laughed without humor.
“Apparently their solution is denying medical care.”
Samuel pulled Meridian’s contract.
Victoria had approved it.
My sister had personally authorized a company connected to a disgraced former executive to review employee benefit utilization.
I called Victoria.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then she texted.
In meetings. What’s wrong?
I typed:
Come to the Charlotte estate tonight.
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Then:
Tomorrow morning works better.
I replied:
Tonight.
No response.
Annie remained downstairs while we continued reviewing files.
At 9:14 p.m., the estate’s west gate camera detected a vehicle.
Not Victoria.
A delivery van.
No scheduled delivery existed.
Security stopped it.
The driver claimed he had a package for Annie Carter.
She hadn’t ordered anything.
Daniel had the box brought into an isolated inspection room.
Inside was a new prosthetic leg.
Expensive.
Custom specifications.
Exactly Annie’s measurements.
No invoice.
No company label.
Just a handwritten card.
SORRY FOR THE DELAY.
Annie stared at it.
“That isn’t mine.”
I looked at Daniel.
“How would someone know her measurements?”
He opened Annie’s medical request.
The specifications were there.
Someone wasn’t trying to help her.
Someone was trying to make the original denial disappear.
May you like
Then Samuel examined the shipping label.
The sender address belonged to Meridian Workforce Solutions.
