Chương 8
The request came from Hale Meridian security.
Nolan Reeves.
Richard’s man.
“He had that video for ten weeks,” Victoria said.
Elaine sat across from her in a small conference room downtown.
“Yes.”
“He told the ballroom he received it that morning.”
“He may claim he meant he personally received a copy that morning.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It can be ridiculous and still be what he says.”
Victoria hated lawyers for sentences like that until she needed them.
Madeline sat beside her wearing dark trousers and one of Victoria’s blouses.
She had refused to go back to the hotel for clothes.
Ethan had texted twice.
She had not answered.
Elaine looked at Madeline.
“You understand your own exposure here?”
Madeline nodded.
“I used a false surname during intake.”
“You say Richard instructed you.”
“Yes.”
“Can you prove he instructed you before the registration?”
“No.”
“The email came later.”
“Yes.”
“Why use Brooks specifically?”
Madeline looked embarrassed.
“It was the first name I thought of.”
“Your own last name?”
“Ethan’s.”
Elaine paused.
“You were already using Brooks socially?”
Madeline nodded. “We had done the courthouse paperwork six days earlier because Ethan’s mother was scheduled for surgery and we wanted her to know it was official. The ballroom ceremony was for family.”
Victoria looked at her.
“You were already legally married?”
“Yes.”
“That seems like something I should’ve known before last night.”
Madeline gave her a tired look.
“You were not exactly on the wedding newsletter.”
Elaine brought them back.
“So at intake you gave Victoria the surname Brooks.”
“Yes.”
“Why not her own?”
“Richard told me on the phone not to use Hale.”
Victoria turned.
“You said you couldn’t prove he told you before.”
“I can’t.”
“But you remember a call?”
“Yes.”
“From your phone?”
“Yes.”
“The missing phone.”
“Yes.”
Elaine wrote something down.
“Who pays your cell account?”
Madeline’s face changed.
“My old firm.”
“Not Richard?”
“No.”
“Then there may be carrier records showing a call occurred even if the content is unavailable.”
For the first time, Madeline looked hopeful.
It was a small hope.
That afternoon it became smaller.
The call log showed an incoming call from a blocked number at 2:09 a.m., lasting fifty-three seconds.
It did not show Richard.
Richard’s attorney sent a letter by four o’clock.
Victoria read it twice.
He denied harming her.
He denied instructing anyone to falsify hospital records.
He expressed concern about Madeline’s “unstable conduct” at the wedding.
He offered to pay for any independent medical or psychological care Victoria required.
He requested a private family meeting.
Madeline threw the printout across Elaine’s office.
“He makes attempted bribery sound like dental insurance.”
Elaine retrieved the pages.
“It is not necessarily a bribe.”
Madeline glared at her.
“I know. I’m angry.”
“Be angry accurately.”
Victoria liked Elaine more every hour.
Ethan arrived at five after asking permission.
Madeline refused to sit beside him.
He had changed out of the tuxedo but still wore the same white shirt, open at the collar.
“I found something,” he said.
Victoria looked up.
“What?”
“The foundation access archive.”
Elaine immediately asked, “How did you access it?”
Ethan stopped.
“Through my credentials.”
“Are you currently authorized to access those records?”
“Yes.”
“Did you alter, download, or forward anything?”
“No.”
“Good. Show me without doing any of those things until we determine what you are permitted to preserve.”
Ethan glanced at Victoria.
“This is why people hate lawyers.”
Elaine said, “People love us approximately six minutes before they need us.”
Ethan opened his laptop.
The access log was not dramatic.
Rows of times.
Badge numbers.
Doors.
Elevators.
But it established something.
Victoria’s badge entered the executive floor at 10:52 p.m.
Ethan entered at 11:38.
Richard entered through the private garage elevator at 12:36 a.m.
Ethan exited through the lobby at 1:14.
Richard’s badge did not record an exit until 2:04.
Madeline’s visitor access entered the garage at 1:49.
Nolan Reeves entered at 2:11.
Victoria looked at the times.
“Richard was still in the building when Madeline arrived.”
“Yes,” Ethan said.
Madeline’s face had gone pale.
“I didn’t see him.”
Elaine pointed at the screen.
“This does not prove where he was inside the building.”
Victoria knew.
It also destroyed Richard’s likely claim that he had been home when Madeline called.
“Why would Nolan arrive at 2:11?” she asked.
Ethan said nothing.
Madeline answered.
“Because Richard called him.”
Elaine looked at her.
“You didn’t see that.”
“No.”
“Then we don’t state it as fact.”
Madeline clenched her jaw.
Victoria stared at the times.
A detail bothered her.
“Richard exits at 2:04.”
“Yes,” Ethan said.
“Nolan enters at 2:11.”
“Yes.”
“Madeline drove me to the hospital at what time?”
“Security video shows you arriving at 2:17.”
The foundation and hospital were more than six minutes apart.
Not impossible at that hour.
Very tight.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Something brushed memory.
The smell of leather.
The cold metal of a car door against her fingers.
A man’s voice.
Not Richard.
Nolan.
Keep your head down.
She opened her eyes.
“Nolan was in the garage before 2:11.”
Everyone stared.
Ethan said, “His badge says—”
“I don’t care what his badge says.”
Elaine leaned forward.
“What do you remember?”
Victoria pressed two fingers against her temple.
“Not enough.”
“Tell me only what you do remember.”
“A voice.”
“Whose?”
“Nolan’s.”
“Doing what?”
“Telling me to keep my head down.”
Madeline whispered, “When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was he helping you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Richard there?”
Victoria’s chest tightened.
“I don’t know.”
Elaine stopped the questions.
That evening Victoria went home alone.
Madeline moved into her sister’s apartment in Brooklyn.
Ethan checked into another hotel.
Their wedding gifts remained stacked in Richard’s hotel ballroom office because nobody had decided where else to send them.
For three days, nothing dramatic happened.
Victoria slept badly.
She changed her bandage.
She answered two work emails and ignored seventeen others.
She watched half of a documentary about coral reefs and retained none of it.
May you like
On Wednesday she burned toast.
The smoke alarm chirped.
