Chapter 68 Wrong Names, Right Problems
The parking lot slowly emptied, but none of them moved yet. It wasn’t because anything was holding them there. It was because nobody had a clean direction to go in after what had just been said.
Lenora kept the folded paper in her hand. Not reading it again, just holding it like it weighed more than it should.
The boy who brought it stood a little apart now, like he was reconsidering how far he had walked into this.
Kylen broke the silence first.
“You didn’t answer my question earlier,” he said.
The boy looked at him. “Which one?”
“Who told you to look into her name?”
A pause.
“No one,” the boy replied. “I noticed it myself.”
Kylen didn’t look convinced.
Lilibeth shifted her bag higher on her shoulder. “This is still pointless,” she said. “A random guy shows up with a paper and suddenly everyone acts like it matters.”
“It does matter,” the boy said. “Because it wasn’t supposed to be in circulation.”
That made Lenora look at him again.
“What do you mean circulation?” she asked.
He hesitated slightly.
“Old records get archived, then sealed,” he said. “This one wasn’t just sealed. It was marked for deletion.”
Kylen stepped in slightly. “Then how do you have it?”
The boy looked at him. “Because it wasn’t fully deleted.”
That sentence didn’t land cleanly. It just sat there.
From behind them, another voice cut in.
“You’re all standing in the wrong place.”
They turned.
The new hockey player was leaning against a nearby car now, helmet in hand, watching them like he had been there longer than anyone noticed.
Kylen frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re reacting to the wrong entry point,” he replied.
Lilibeth rolled her eyes slightly. “Everyone here speaks in puzzles now?”
He ignored her.
His eyes stayed on Lenora.
“That paper you’re holding,” he said, “isn’t the important part.”
Lenora looked at him. “Then what is?”
He tilted his head slightly. “Who signed it.”
She unfolded it again.
Scanned it properly this time.
At the bottom.
A signature.
Clean. Official. Old formatting.
Her fingers stopped.
Kylen noticed the change immediately. “What is it?”
Lenora didn’t answer straight away.
She just looked at the name.
Then spoke.
“That’s my grandmother’s signature.”
Silence.
Not dramatic silence. Just immediate recalibration from everyone standing there.
Lilibeth spoke first. “That’s impossible.”
The boy shook his head slightly. “Not if she was involved in approvals back then.”
Kylen looked at Lenora. “You’re sure?”
Lenora didn’t blink. “I know her handwriting.”
That was enough.
The new hockey player pushed off the car now, walking closer.
“So it’s not just family coincidence,” he said. “It’s administrative.”
Kylen looked at him. “You knew that already?”
“No,” he replied. “But it explains why people keep showing up around you.”
Lenora folded the paper again.
This time slower.
Lilibeth crossed her arms tighter. “So what, your grandmother signed something years ago and now strangers are appearing because of it?”
The boy answered before anyone else could.
“Not strangers,” he said. “Connections.”
That word changed the tone again.
Lenora looked at him directly. “What are you trying to say?”
He hesitated, then said it plainly.
“I think your grandmother didn’t just sign a document. I think she authorized something that still has consequences.”
Kylen exhaled slowly. “That’s a big assumption.”
“It’s the only one that explains why her name keeps appearing in places it shouldn’t,” the boy replied.
Lilibeth let out a short laugh again, but it didn’t carry humor.
“This is insane,” she said. “You’re all building theories off one paper.”
Lenora looked at her.
“It’s not just one paper,” she said. “It’s a pattern.”
That made Lilibeth pause slightly.
Kylen glanced toward the rink again. “We’re still missing the middle part of this.”
The new hockey player nodded slightly. “Yeah.”
That agreement wasn’t comforting.
Lenora looked at all of them briefly.
Then spoke.
“So either my grandmother signed something she never talked about… or someone is using her name to cover something else.”
Silence followed.
Because both options were bad in different ways.
The boy finally stepped back slightly.
“I didn’t come here to start anything,” he said. “I just needed to confirm I wasn’t chasing nothing.”
Kylen looked at him. “And now?”
“I’ve confirmed enough,” he replied.
He started walking away.
No dramatic exit. No explanation.
Just done.
Lilibeth watched him leave, then turned back to Lenora.
“This is going to follow you now,” she said.
Lenora didn’t respond immediately.
Because it already was.
Kylen adjusted his grip on his bag again.
“We should go,” he said.
No one argued.
As they started walking away from the rink, the new hockey player fell into step beside them briefly.
“You should be careful who you trust,” he said quietly.
Kylen glanced at him. “That includes you?”
The player smiled slightly.
“Especially me,” he said.
Then he peeled off in another direction.
Lilibeth walked slightly ahead now.
Kylen stayed beside Lenora.
The paper was still in her hand.
She looked at it once more as they walked.
Not because she needed to.
But because it had already changed the direction of everything.
And for the first time, it wasn’t about hidden systems or unknown structures.
It was simpler.
Someone in her family signed something years ago.
And now people were still showing up because of it.