Chương 10
Priya began. “Emily has questions. You will answer them directly or the meeting ends.”
Daniel looked at Emily. “All right.”
“Did you know about Leah’s accusation three years ago?” Emily asked.
“I knew she was terminated after controlled medication was found in her desk.”
“Did you believe the pills were hers?”
“At the time, yes.”
“Why?”
“My father told me they were.”
“Did you ask Leah?”
“No.”
“Did you see proof?”
“I saw a photograph and an incident report.”
“Written by whom?”
“The estate security director.”
Leah’s eyes narrowed. “Martin Cole.”
Daniel nodded.
“He was Victoria’s employee,” Leah said.
“He was my father’s head of security.”
“He reported to Victoria whenever your father traveled.”
Daniel looked at her. “I didn’t know that.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“No.”
The word remained between them.
Emily continued. “When did you learn Leah claimed the pills were planted?”
“After she filed suit.”
“What did you do?”
“I asked the foundation’s counsel to investigate.”
Leah laughed. “The same counsel defending Victoria.”
“Yes.”
“And they found nothing.”
“They concluded there was insufficient evidence.”
“Of course they did.”
Daniel’s hand closed around the edge of the table. “I was running three companies while my father was dying.”
Leah’s face hardened. “My mother was dying too.”
No one spoke.
Daniel released the table.
“You’re right,” he said.
Leah looked away, as if the answer had arrived too late to be useful.
Emily asked, “Why did you install the cameras?”
“Three items disappeared from the house over eight months. Mother’s sapphire brooch, a gold cigarette case, and a small ivory carving.”
“Who did you suspect?”
“No one specifically.”
“Victoria?”
He hesitated.
Priya closed her notebook. “We’re done.”
“Yes,” Daniel said quickly. “I suspected Victoria.”
Emily stared at him.
“Why?”
“The missing items had belonged to our mother. Victoria opposed my plan to place the valuable pieces in secure storage. She said the house should remain as Mother left it. Then the brooch disappeared.”
“So you installed cameras.”
“In the service corridors and near the exterior storage room.”
“Without telling staff.”
“I informed Rosa that security was being upgraded.”
“You did not tell her where.”
“No.”
“Were you hoping to catch Victoria?”
“I was hoping to determine what was happening.”
Emily felt anger rise, slow and clear. “You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“You suspected your sister was stealing family property. You put cameras where staff work. Then when she accused me, you watched to determine what was happening.”
Daniel’s voice lowered. “I needed evidence.”
“You already believed someone with access to the house might be stealing. You let her open my bag in front of ten people.”
“I did not know the necklace was there.”
“You knew she had carried the bag from a staff area. You knew she was accusing me before anything was found. You knew enough to stop it.”
He looked down.
Emily had never seen him lower his eyes to an employee.
“Why was the monitor in the foyer?” she asked.
“The security system feeds to several screens. I activated that one from my phone.”
“When?”
“When Victoria said she had found the necklace in your bag.”
“So you suspected her before I opened it.”
“Yes.”
“And you still told me to open it.”
Daniel’s face had gone pale.
“I wanted the accusation documented,” he said.
Priya leaned forward. “You used Emily as part of an evidence-gathering decision.”
“No.”
“That is exactly what you described.”
“I believed that if Victoria had staged something, interrupting too early would allow her to deny it.”
Emily pushed back her chair.
Daniel stood. “Emily.”
“You wanted to catch her.”
“I wanted the truth.”
“You wanted the truth in a way that cost you nothing.”
“That’s not fair.”
She stopped.
He heard the phrase after saying it. Celeste had used it. Rosa had used it. Fairness had become the room everyone entered when they did not want to stand in the actual one.
Daniel sat again.
“No,” he said. “It is fair.”
Emily remained standing.
He looked at her. “I suspected Victoria was taking objects. I did not suspect she would plant one in your bag. When she accused you, I activated the camera feed. I asked you to open the bag because I wanted witnesses to see what she claimed was there before she could change the story.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have stopped the room.”
“Yes.”
“You chose not to.”
“Yes.”
Her throat tightened. “Thank you for finally answering.”
Daniel nodded once.
She left the conference room.
Priya found her in the building’s lobby beside a vending machine. Emily had bought coffee and forgotten to remove the cup. Brown liquid overflowed into the metal tray.
Priya reached past her and pressed cancel.
“Bad machine,” she said.
“I didn’t take the cup.”
“I noticed.”
Emily pulled it free and carried it to a trash can.
“He knew,” she said.
“He suspected.”
“He knew enough.”
“Yes.”
“Does that make him responsible?”
“Morally? Partly. Legally? That depends on what claim we are discussing.”
“I’m not asking about a lawsuit.”
“Good, because I was about to become boring.”
Emily leaned against the wall. “I keep wanting one person to be innocent.”
Priya folded her arms. “You are.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
“I know.”
The police investigation widened.
Within a week, the foundation board suspended Victoria as chair. The statement cited “ongoing internal and external reviews” and did not mention Emily. Daniel temporarily assumed oversight, a decision several board members criticized because it concentrated control in the same family.
Celeste Warren resigned as vice chair two days later. Before resigning, she admitted to investigators that she had shared internal vendor records with Leah. She also acknowledged taking the photograph in the foyer.
Emily learned this from Detective Hale.
“Why did she post it?” she asked.
“She says she sent it privately to another board member.”
May you like
“Who posted it?”
“The board member forwarded it to a spouse. The spouse sent it to a friend who runs the local account.”
