The room went quiet. Preston glared at him, then turned on Williams. "Are you seriously entertaining this? A woman arrives with an old key and suddenly everyone forgets who built this brand?" Williams looked at him without expression.
"That is exactly the problem, Preston," he replied. "We are trying to determine who built it, who owns it, and whether this board has been given reliable information."
Celeste explained that the sale could not responsibly proceed while the trust's controlling ownership and the restrictions on community assets remained unresolved. The board's fiduciary duties required disclosure of the dispute and preservation of company records. Its immediate authority included suspending officers, appointing temporary management, and cooperating with investigators, even before a court reached a final determination about the trust. Williams proposed an emergency motion removing Preston from executive control pending the investigation.
Six directors voted in favor, and none opposed. The remaining director abstained, saying that counsel had advised him to avoid participation while his own business dealings were under review. Preston stared around the table as though the men and women he had entertained for years had suddenly become strangers. He had mistaken their professional courtesy for personal loyalty, and he discovered that loyalty purchased by access to money could vanish once the money was threatened.
"You can't do this," he said. Williams closed the voting record. "We just did," he answered. "You no longer have authority to direct hotel employees, interfere with the records inspection, or represent this board in the proposed sale."
Martin Greer quietly rose from his chair and moved toward the door. He had heard enough to know that the names on the recovered pages matched agreements he had helped draft and later helped suppress. He might have reached the corridor unnoticed if Lionel Baptiste had not arrived with a court liaison carrying a supplemental records packet. The elderly accountant saw the lawyer and stopped, his hand tightening around the handle of his cane.
"Mr. Greer," Lionel said, loudly enough for the room to hear. "I remember that signature you told us not to question." Greer turned with an expression of exhausted disbelief.
Lionel continued, his voice firmer now. "You said Miss Monroe was unavailable to sign the papers in 1984. She was in the hospital. I kept the ledger and the board notes. You're not going to tell us that nobody remembers anymore."
Celeste asked the liaison to take Lionel's documents into custody and ensure that Greer's identity and location were recorded for the investigators handling the suspected forgery. Greer asked for his attorney and refused further comment. No one attempted to turn the conference room into a courtroom; the disputed signatures would be examined, and prosecutors would decide what criminal charges the evidence supported. Even so, Greer's silence spoke to the people who had once accepted his assurances without question.