Chapter 6 - The Presentation
I looked toward the control booth.
Then at the brass key.
“Turn on the screen.”
The technician hesitated.
Malcolm shouted.
“Don’t!”
I smiled.
“Now.”
The technician looked at Arthur Bell.
Arthur nodded.
The room darkened.
The giant twelve-foot screen behind Malcolm went black.
Then a white line appeared.
A loading symbol.
Malcolm turned toward it.
“Stop.”
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Not Malcolm.
Me.
Standing in a tiny rented office twelve years earlier.
My hair was shorter.
My clothes were plain.
I was holding a laptop.
Beside me were three engineers and an old whiteboard covered in equations.
The room went silent.
Another image appeared.
My grandmother.
Then the first company registration.
Then bank records.
Then patent documents.
Then photographs of the first product prototype.
My signature appeared on every one.
One after another.
The ballroom watched.
No music.
No narration.
Just evidence.
Malcolm’s face had gone completely pale.
Vivian slowly stepped away from him.
The next image appeared.
A patent certificate.
Inventor:
Naen Odum.
Malcolm closed his eyes.
I could almost hear his thoughts.
He had forgotten.
Or perhaps he had convinced himself.
That was the thing about lies.
They eventually require the liar to forget which version of reality is real.
The screen changed again.
A document appeared.
The original shareholder register.
My name.
Seventy-eight percent.
My grandmother’s trust.
Twenty-two percent.
Malcolm’s name.
Zero.
A collective gasp rolled across the ballroom.
Someone whispered:
“Zero?”
Arthur stared at the screen.
“Malcolm…”
Malcolm turned.
“It’s fabricated.”
I shook my head.
“Then why don’t you call the law firm?”
His eyes snapped toward me.
I continued.
“Baxter, Reed & Hall.”
He said nothing.
“They’ve maintained the corporate records since day one.”
May you like
Still nothing.
“They are also holding the original trust instrument.”
