Chương 8
“Because I had advised Elena to sign a prenuptial agreement protecting her foundation interests from family control.”
“She told me you had a trial.”
Naomi smiled faintly. “I spent the ceremony behind a column.”
Daniel tried to picture it and could. Naomi had appeared in photographs only at the reception.
He rubbed his face. “How much did I not know?”
“A lot.”
“Everyone keeps telling me that.”
“You didn’t make Elena hide things.”
“I made it easy.”
Naomi did not answer.
At one fifteen, someone knocked.
Daniel stood immediately.
Naomi checked the small monitor connected to the doorbell camera. Ethan waited on the porch without an umbrella. His charcoal suit was darkened by rain. He looked directly into the camera.
Daniel’s body moved toward the door before thought caught up.
Naomi blocked him.
“No.”
“He came here.”
“And that makes opening the door wise?”
“I want to hear him.”
“You want him close enough to hit.”
Daniel looked at her.
She did not move.
Ethan knocked again, less forcefully.
“Daniel,” he called through the door. “I know you’re there.”
Naomi whispered, “Call Ortiz.”
Daniel took out his phone.
Ethan said, “She lied to you too.”
Daniel stopped dialing.
Naomi shook her head.
“I can hear you,” Ethan continued. “The camera has audio. I need five minutes.”
Daniel activated the intercom. “Talk from there.”
Ethan looked toward the street. “Not on a doorbell server.”
“Then leave.”
“Mother took the folder.”
Naomi closed her eyes briefly.
Daniel said, “Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You came here in the rain to tell me something I already know?”
“I came to tell you Elena was alive when I left the house.”
Daniel’s hand tightened around the phone.
Naomi whispered, “Do not open it.”
“What time?” Daniel asked through the intercom.
“Two thirty.”
“Emergency services were called after three.”
“I know.”
“Who was with her?”
Ethan stepped closer to the camera. Water ran from his hair along one cheek.
“Let me in.”
“No.”
“Then I’m done.”
He turned.
Daniel unlocked the door.
Naomi swore softly.
Ethan looked back as the lock clicked. Daniel opened the door but kept the security chain attached.
“Hands where I can see them,” Daniel said.
Ethan laughed once. “You’re wearing pajama pants.”
“Hands.”
Ethan raised them.
Daniel called Ortiz and put the phone on speaker. When she answered, he said, “Ethan Vale is at my house. He says Elena was alive when he left Vale House at two thirty.”
Ethan’s face changed. “You called her?”
“I hadn’t promised you privacy.”
Ortiz’s voice sharpened. “Captain Hayes, do not let him inside. Mr. Vale, remain where you are if you’re willing to speak. Officers are being sent.”
Ethan stepped back. “No.”
“Then leave,” Daniel said. “The camera has already recorded what you said.”
Ethan glanced at the lens.
For the first time that night, he looked genuinely trapped.
Naomi moved beside Daniel but remained out of Ethan’s reach.
“Why did you come?” she asked.
Ethan looked at her. “Mother thinks you have the archive.”
“I don’t.”
“I believe you.”
“That must be difficult.”
His mouth tightened.
Daniel asked, “Was Elena conscious when you left?”
“Yes.”
“Injured?”
Ethan looked toward the street again.
Daniel’s voice changed. “Was she injured?”
“She had fallen.”
“Then why didn’t you call an ambulance?”
“Mother said she was breathing. Elena told us not to touch her.”
“You left her on the floor?”
“She was sitting up.”
“You said she fell down the stairs.”
“I didn’t say where she was.”
“What happened?”
Ethan lowered his hands. “Ask Mother.”
Daniel pushed against the chained door. “I’m asking you.”
Naomi caught Daniel’s arm.
Ethan flinched backward.
The small reaction told Daniel more than the retreat itself. Ethan had expected violence. Perhaps he had come hoping for it.
Daniel stopped.
“You want me arrested,” he said.
Ethan wiped rain from his mouth. “I want everyone to stop deciding I’m the only person who did anything wrong.”
Police lights appeared at the end of the street.
Ethan’s eyes followed them.
“What did Elena sign?” he asked Daniel. “Did she tell you? Did she tell you she approved every transfer? She wasn’t exposing us. She was saving herself.”
Naomi said, “Then why remove the folder?”
Ethan looked at her. “Because people believe dead women.”
The police vehicles stopped outside.
Ethan did not run. He sat on the wet front step and put his hands on his knees before the officers reached him.
Ortiz arrived several minutes later. She separated Daniel and Naomi while another officer spoke to Ethan.
“You opened the door,” Ortiz said.
“The chain stayed on.”
“That is not the point.”
“He gave us information.”
“He gave you an unverified statement after appearing unannounced, possibly to provoke or manipulate you.”
“It’s recorded.”
“Yes. Along with your decision to engage him after I specifically advised you not to contact either suspect.”
“He contacted me.”
“And you could have left the door closed.”
Daniel looked past her toward Ethan, now seated in the back of a patrol car without handcuffs.
“What happens to him?”
“He has requested counsel.”
“He came here to speak.”
“Then changed his mind.”
“You can still use what he said.”
“We can investigate it.”
Daniel heard the distinction.
Ortiz’s shoulders lowered slightly. “You are not one of my officers, Captain.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked at her.
“You are used to believing composure makes you safe,” she said. “It doesn’t. Not here. You are a grieving husband with a temper, public access to weapons through your profession, and angry messages on your dead wife’s phone. If Ethan Vale wants to create reasonable doubt, you just helped him.”
The words landed precisely because Daniel had already understood them.
Naomi stood in the doorway, arms folded against the cold.
Daniel said, “Elena told me I would take over.”
“Maybe she knew you.”
Ortiz turned toward the patrol car, then stopped. “The medical examiner found an injection mark on your wife’s upper arm.”
Daniel’s breath caught.
May you like
“An injection of what?”
“We don’t know yet. There is also bruising on both wrists that was not documented during the initial examination.”
