Chapter 9 - THE MARK BENEATH THE DRAGON
Westhaven’s structural frame had not yet been enclosed, which made inspection possible.
Dana contacted the city through counsel and disclosed a limited concern without accusing anyone of a crime we could not yet prove.
Work paused on affected sections.
Independent inspectors collected samples and compared them against the project specifications.
The initial visual review found no immediate danger.
Laboratory testing would determine grade, treatment, and load capacity.
Evan went public again.
He accused me of creating panic to gain control of the company.
This time I issued one statement through Dana:
The review concerns documentation inconsistencies identified in company records. Public safety and employee stability require independent verification.
No insults.
No threats.
No mention of the castle.
Evan had less to cut from it.
The code beneath the dragon’s base stayed in my mind.
B-17.
I asked Leo where he found the wood.
“The bin behind Grandpa’s old office.”
“What did it look like before you cut it?”
“Long and flat. It had numbers underneath.”
He brought me the castle’s surviving foundation piece.
More letters remained along one edge.
B-17 WEST PARCEL.
The wood was not an ordinary offcut.
It came from an old property marker Richard used when dividing the mill site for survey planning. I remembered seeing similar boards in the archive room when I was a teenager.
Dana obtained historical trust records.
Parcel B-17 was the western section of the original mill property.
It had been transferred eighteen months earlier to Alder Ridge Management for one dollar.
The deed bore my signature as co-trustee.
I had never signed it.
A notary named Paula Griggs certified the transfer. She had performed work for Bennett Timberworks for years.
Unlike Samuel Pike, she claimed I appeared before her.
She produced a journal entry and a blurred lobby photograph showing a man in a rolled-sleeve shirt.
The face was turned away.
The man wore my wristwatch.
I recognized it because Evan had given me the same model for my thirty-fifth birthday.
Then I remembered his comment when mine disappeared during a family weekend.
You lose everything that isn’t attached to you.
He had replaced it two weeks later.
The blurred man could have been Evan wearing the original.
Again, suspicion was not proof.
The deed transfer allowed Alder Ridge to mortgage the parcel and obtain the funds used for Bennett Landing.
Richard and Evan had moved trust property into a shell created in my name, borrowed against it, and redirected the money.
The broken castle had not contained a secret document.
It had exposed a project code that led us to a transaction hidden inside ordinary property records.
Laboratory results from Westhaven arrived the same afternoon.
The timber met basic structural strength requirements.
It did not carry the fire-treatment certification required by the city contract.
The building could be remediated before opening, but panels would need replacement and costs would be substantial.
The false certificates had been uploaded from Bennett Timberworks headquarters.
The user account belonged to Nora.
She swore she had never seen them.
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Then the forensic log identified the device.
The certificates had been submitted from Richard’s private office.
