Page 56

“SeverMed moved them out under false papers.”

Vera taps the pharmacy report. “Small amounts of sedatives disappeared from four sites. SeverMed staff signed the supply logs each time.”

I look at her instead of the page.

She reaches for my coffee and takes a bite of the tea cake Mrs. Wentworth sent an hour ago. “What?”

“You found all of that in thirty minutes.”

“I work in hospitals.” She drinks from my cup.

“Many people work in hospitals.”

“One of mine was murdered. I have reason to look harder.”

My mouth shifts. “You’re drinking my coffee.”

“It was your tenth.” She lifts the cup again. “Mrs. Wentworth would blame me if the next one finished you.”

“I thought I was better protected.”

I reach for the cup, and my chest brushes her shoulder. Her breath catches, though she doesn’t move.

“You should step back,” I tell her.

“You moved closer.”

“I’m injured. My judgment is compromised.”

“Your judgment was compromised before the bullets.”

My eyes drop to her mouth.

Vera pushes the coffee into my hand. “Drink it or study the records. You’re failing at both.”

I take the cup and move beside her. “Show me what I missed.”

She pulls the files between us. “Try to keep up.”

I slide her father’s records across the table. “They used old papers from his estate to make the debt look real. Leonid and Elena found dates that don’t match, and one form was approved by a registry clerk who had already died.”

Vera opens the files pulled from her father’s estate. She works more slowly as the night deepens, but one signature stops her.

The letters slope left, and the final stroke cuts through the surname.

Her face changes before she speaks.

“What is it?”

She turns the page toward the lamp and presses one finger beneath the name. “That’s my father’s signature.” Her eyes lift to mine. “And he didn’t sign this.”

His forged signature is at the bottom of the Blacklist debt form.

12

VERA

“Someone copied my father’s signature.” I press one finger beneath the name, then look at Alexei. “He didn’t sign this.”