“You do,” Daniel said, pointing to a signature on a scanned document from ten years ago. “Evelyn transferred ninety percent of the shares to you on your twenty-fifth birthday. She kept it in a blind trust so your father couldn’t touch it.”

“So Gavin’s forged signatures on the restaurant leases…” I began.

“Are completely invalid,” Daniel finished. “He was leasing properties from a company he didn’t own, using forged authority. He and your father have been paying rent to a ghost account they thought they controlled.”

He tapped a printout of the bank transfers.

“But because the land belongs to First Star, all the rent money they diverted actually constitutes grand larceny and embezzlement of trust funds.”

I looked at the brass key.

“Where is the physical deed?” I asked.

“There’s a private safe deposit box at the maritime bank on the wharf,” Daniel said, looking at the tag on the key. “This key opens it.”

I took the key back, my fingers curling around it with a new sense of purpose.

“This is the proof we need,” I said.