Chapter 4: A: The Vault Ledger

👉 Previous decision: You chose to use the sworn testimony to hunt down the physical vault ledger in Arthur Phelan’s real-estate office.

“Julian’s at the Red-Carpet Gala tonight,” Clara said, her voice taut with urgency. “He’ll be tied up for hours.”

She held up a laminated ID card. “Lena, his former assistant, gave me access to Phelan’s office. She kept a spare key.”

The office building was quiet and dimly lit when we arrived. Clara disabled the alarm system with a practiced ease.

Phelan’s private office smelled faintly of stale cigar smoke. A large, ornate safe stood hidden behind a framed landscape painting.

“Lena said the notary ledger is in there,” Clara whispered, handing me a small, heavy key. “It records every transaction Phelan stamped.”

My fingers fumbled with the key, cold metal against cold metal. The safe lock clicked.

Inside, nestled amongst stacks of legal documents, was a thick, leather-bound book. The notary ledger.

I flipped through its pages. Page after page listed transactions, signatures, and dates. Then, I found them.

The familiar, spidery signature of Arthur Phelan. The dates matching Julian’s offshore transfers.

I compared the signatures to the blurred figures on my video. It was an exact match. The same specific flourishes, the slight tilt of the pen.

This was the physical proof. The ironclad record of their fraud.