Chapter 37: The Check-In Tablet

The editor's email stayed bright on Olivia's phone while everyone in the study understood the same ugly thing at different speeds: Martha no longer had a private scheme. She had a transmission trail. ADA Alvarez angled her recording phone toward the new message. "Timestamp, sender, subject, full body. Do not scroll faster than I can see it." Olivia obeyed. Her hand no longer shook, and that frightened Leah more than the trembling had. Nora's voice came through Ethan's speaker. "I am amending the emergency petition to include external publication risk and suspected forged authorization. I need the vendor trail before nine." "Vendor trail," Martha repeated, as if the phrase bored her. "From a benefits tablet used by hundreds of donors, staff, volunteers, caterers, and bored nieces trying to find their table assignments." "Then you should want the log preserved," Leah said. Martha looked at her. "You are enjoying this." Leah did not answer quickly. Olivia was watching her now, and a wrong answer would turn victory into cruelty. "No," Leah said. "I am trying not to become you." For a heartbeat, even Richard looked at her. Ethan opened his own phone, then stopped and set it faceup on the desk. "I can describe the portal. I should not log in from here." "Good," Alvarez said. "Describe." "Foundation guest services used EventCrown for the spring benefit," Ethan said. "The tablets were numbered at the door. Check-In 03 was the west vestibule tablet. Operator initials are assigned by staff badge, not shared login. MT-AIDE-7 would be Martha's seventh household aide profile unless someone changed the naming convention." Martha's smile returned, small and vicious. "You memorized staffing labels at a charity gala?" "I memorized exits," Ethan said. "The labels were next to them." Olivia made a sound that was almost a laugh and almost not. "Of course you did." Nora cut in. "Richard, do you have administrative access to Foundation guest services?" Richard's hand went to his pocket. "Trustee-level, not operational." "Enough to freeze, not enough to inspect. Do it." Martha stepped forward. "Richard, if you freeze guest services, you disrupt tomorrow's donor processing, vendor payments, security credentials, everything." "Good," Olivia said. Richard looked at her, and she lifted her chin. "If my name can be copied out of a gala tablet and sent to a newspaper, your donor processing can be uncomfortable." Richard opened the trustee app. The screen asked for a reason. His thumb hovered. Leah saw Martha's eyes flick once toward the hall. "Alvarez," Leah said. "Someone outside this room." Alvarez turned just as the assistant who had hovered behind Olivia stepped backward from the study threshold. The girl's face drained white. Her phone was in her hand, screen lit with a red confirmation button. "Stop," Alvarez said. The assistant froze. Martha sighed. "Talia, do not be dramatic. Give the ADA your phone." Talia's mouth opened, but no sound came out. Olivia stared at her. "Talia?" The red button on the screen read REVOKE PACKAGE ACCESS. Nora's voice became very quiet. "Do not let her tap that." Leah stepped aside so Alvarez had a clear path, but Olivia moved first. Not toward Martha. Toward Talia. "Look at me," Olivia said. Talia did, crying now. "Did you sign my name?" Talia shook her head hard. "I uploaded what Mrs. Thorne sent me." Martha's face went blank. The trustee app in Richard's hand chimed before he touched the freeze button. Guest Services Remote Session Active. User: MTHORNE. Alvarez reached for her radio. "Now we have live access."