Chapter 4
There were eleven such dates.
Daniel built a timeline.
Hospital admission.
Foundation login.
Treatment appointment.
Foundation approval.
MRI.
Foundation approval.
Emergency room visit.
Foundation approval.
The pattern became impossible to dismiss.
Gabriella’s credentials had authorized transactions at moments she could not realistically have been entering them.
Marina argued shared passwords were common.
Rebecca asked who knew Gabriella’s.
Marina said she didn’t remember.
Daniel obtained system logs.
Most of the questionable approvals came from the same office network.
Edmund’s old foundation suite.
But not from Edmund’s computer.
From an administrative workstation used primarily by Marina and two assistants.
One assistant had left eighteen months ago.
The other still worked for the foundation.
She agreed to speak.
Her name was Kelly Rhodes.
She remembered Marina asking for Gabriella’s login because “Mrs. Mancini was too sick to keep up with approvals.”
“Did Gabriella authorize that?” Rebecca asked.
Kelly shook her head.
“Marina said she did.”
“Did you ever see written authorization?”
“No.”
“Did you use Gabriella’s account?”
“Twice. For ordinary reimbursements. Marina gave me the password.”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
That established access.
Not intent.
Kelly remembered something else.
Gabriella returned to the office unexpectedly one afternoon after treatment.
She discovered printed payment summaries on Marina’s desk.
The two women argued behind a closed door.
“What did you hear?”
Kelly hesitated.
“Mrs. Mancini said, ‘Stop putting my name on things I haven’t seen.’”
Salvatore read the transcript in silence.
He remembered that day.
Gabriella came home furious.
He asked what happened.
She said:
“Foundation nonsense.”
He had been late for a meeting.
He kissed her forehead.
Told her to let Edmund handle it.
Then left.
Salvatore closed his eyes.
That memory hurt differently now.
Gabriella had tried to bring a problem home.
He had sent her back toward the exact people she no longer trusted.
Rebecca continued.
After the argument, Gabriella changed her password.
For six days, no questionable transactions appeared under her credentials.
Then they resumed.
Salvatore looked up.
“Someone got the new password.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel pointed at one detail.
The first transaction after the password change originated from Edmund’s foundation suite at 7:18 p.m.
Building access records showed only two people entered that suite that evening.
Edmund.
And Marina.
Second clue.
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Gabriella tried to close the door.
Someone inside Edmund’s office opened it again.
