Then another voice entered the recording.
Captain Sloan’s.
He told Elena that Harbor House would be sold with or without her cooperation.
He said the city already had a Reagan signature prepared and that no one would question it once Danny appeared publicly beside the project.
The recording stopped.
Sloan stared at the device as though he could force the words back inside it.
Mercer moved away from him.
It was a small movement, but everyone saw it.
Sloan spoke first.
“That recording is manipulated.”
The clerk looked at him.
“You denied knowing about the deposit box.”
“I denied nothing.”
“You said the original material was in the city archive.”
“It should have been.”
Nicky slid another paper across the table.
“Then explain why your security credentials were used to remove the trust scan from the archive two days before the forged deed was uploaded.”
Danny picked up the page.
The access report had been obtained from an independent backup server.
Sloan’s credentials appeared twice: once when the original scan was opened, and again when a replacement file was added.
Sloan turned toward Danny.
“You know how shared systems work.
Credentials are compromised all the time.”
Danny’s voice became dangerously calm.
“Then you should have reported the breach.”
“I didn’t know about it.”
“But you knew where the missing original should have been.”
Sloan did not answer.
Mercer returned to the microphone.
He attempted to reclaim the confident rhythm he had used when the hearing began.
“Even assuming these documents are authentic, they do not implicate my company.
We relied on approvals supplied by the city.”
Nicky looked at him.
“You paid the notary.”
His mouth tightened.
“A consulting invoice from one of my contractors proves nothing.”
“I didn’t mention an invoice.”
The room went silent again.
Mercer realized what he had done.
Nicky had never said how she connected him to the notary.
He had supplied that detail himself.
The reporters surged closer.
Mercer pulled off his microphone and turned toward the side exit, but two uniformed officers had already moved in front of the door.
They were not acting on Sloan’s authority anymore.
Danny had quietly signaled the senior officer near the wall while the recording played.
Sloan saw the officers and snapped, “Stand down.”
No one moved.
Danny faced him.
“You’re relieved pending investigation.”
“You don’t have that authority.”
“The city inspector general does.”
A woman in a dark suit entered from the rear of the chamber with two investigators beside her.
Nicky had sent the evidence to her office before arriving at the hearing.
The inspector general announced that both the Harbor House transaction and the manipulation of city records were now under formal review.
Mercer attempted one final attack.
He pointed at Nicky and accused her of manufacturing a scandal to insert herself into Danny’s new life in Boston.
