Chương 6
“I told you to set boundaries.”
“You left me alone with her and called it a boundary.”
Damian looked through the glass panel in Margaret’s door. She was adjusting the blanket with slow, irritated movements.
Vanessa continued. “Your mother went through my purse. She took private financial documents. She threatened to humiliate me in front of Martin and Claire and Sabrina. I asked her to wait until we could speak with you privately. She said people like me only told the truth when there were witnesses.”
“That sounds like her.”
“I lost my temper.”
“You didn’t look angry when I asked where she was.”
“I was terrified.”
“You looked bored.”
“I learned from you.”
The line did not sound rehearsed. That made it worse.
Damian lowered his voice. “Did Martin know my signature was attached?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know I hadn’t approved it?”
“I told him you would.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“It is in the rooms he works in.”
“No. It isn’t.”
“You’ve done deals on handshakes.”
“Not with other people’s signatures.”
A horn sounded on her end. Vanessa spoke to someone in the car, then returned.
“My lawyer says I should stop talking.”
“For once, listen.”
“Damian.”
He waited.
“I am sorry she was hurt.”
“Are you sorry you locked her in?”
Her answer took too long.
“I’m sorry for all of it.”
He ended the call.
The next morning, Damian’s general counsel arrived carrying two paper cups of coffee and a legal pad she never used.
Elena Park had worked for Damian for nine years. She wore a navy suit, flat shoes, and the expression of a person who had been asked to solve a problem designed to resist solving.
She handed him the coffee.
“It’s terrible,” she said.
He tasted it. “Accurate.”
They sat in a waiting alcove near the hospital elevators while Margaret slept.
Elena opened her tablet. “The yacht’s system administrator preserved door-access logs, camera footage, radio traffic, and bridge records. The local sheriff’s office has copies. The Coast Guard is focused on maritime safety issues, not the confinement allegation.”
“Did the secondary latch record electronically?”
“No. It’s mechanical.”
“Of course.”
“The corridor credential was assigned to Vanessa. Her attorney will argue other people had access to the bracelet.”
“Did they?”
“She left it in a dish in the owner’s cabin on previous trips. Crew members say they sometimes carried it to her when she forgot it.”
“Yesterday?”
“No one has admitted doing that.”
“Martin?”
“His credential never entered the lower deck.”
Damian stared into the coffee.
Elena continued. “The financial documents are the larger immediate risk to the company.”
“My company didn’t issue them.”
“Your signature may have been presented to a lender. If someone represented that you personally guaranteed Cole Meridian debt, we need to identify every recipient and correct the record.”
“Martin says it was a draft.”
“Martin says many things in rooms without court reporters.”
“Can you get the packet?”
“We requested it. His counsel says no final agreement exists and preliminary drafts are privileged commercial material.”
“Privilege does not mean what he thinks it means.”
“He knows. He’s buying time.”
Damian looked toward Margaret’s room.
“Everyone seems to need time.”
Elena’s expression softened. “How is she?”
“Angry about the television remote.”
“Good.”
“She has cracked ribs.”
“I heard.”
“She thinks I don’t believe her.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“That was quick.”
He looked at Elena.
She lifted one shoulder. “You asked me to be honest when you hired me.”
“I was younger.”
“Your mother has opposed every serious relationship you’ve had.”
“Not every.”
“She liked the architect.”
“She liked his mother.”
“And she has accused people of using you before.”
“Some were.”
“Some weren’t.”
Damian set down the coffee.
Elena folded her hands. “Believing Margaret was confined is not the same as believing every conclusion she drew from a folder she viewed for thirty seconds.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“But Vanessa lied about where she was. She lied at the table. She knew about the copied signature.”
“Yes.”
“And Martin knew.”
“Likely.”
“Not likely. He knew.”
“You need to stop turning reasonable inference into sworn fact.”
“Now you sound like me.”
“That is why you pay me.”
The elevator opened. Claire Baines stepped out carrying a small paper bag and a vase containing three white flowers.
She stopped when she saw Damian.
“I didn’t know whether visitors were allowed.”
“She’s awake,” he said. “Probably reorganizing the medication schedule.”
Claire glanced at Elena.
“Elena Park, Claire Baines.”
“We’ve met,” Elena said.
“At the foundation dinner.”
“You tried to move a donor away from the kitchen doors.”
“He kept opening them.”
The exchange relaxed none of them.
Claire handed the flowers to Damian. “These were the least cheerful ones in the shop.”
“Thank you.”
“I brought Margaret’s glasses too. They were on the yacht.”
Damian looked inside the paper bag. The tortoiseshell frames rested beside a small bottle of hand cream and one beige flat shoe.
“Only one?”
“The crew couldn’t find the other.”
“It was under the table.”
“I saw one there. The other may have been moved when the officers photographed the room.”
Damian disliked the missing shoe immediately. Not because it mattered, but because important days gathered stray imperfections that could never be corrected.
Claire glanced toward Margaret’s door.
“Has Vanessa been arrested?”
“No.”
“Sabrina is telling people she was.”
“Why?”
“Sabrina does not distinguish between questioning and arrest when frightened.”
“Who is she telling?”
“Everyone who asks her not to.”
Elena stood. “I should call communications.”
Claire caught her arm lightly. “There’s something else.”
Elena waited.
Claire lowered her voice. “Vanessa asked me to lie about the time.”
“When?” Damian asked.
“After you went below deck. Before you came back. She said Margaret had embarrassed herself and needed a few minutes to recover. She asked me to say they returned together if you questioned us.”
“Why didn’t you tell the deputy?”
May you like
“I did.”
Damian studied her face. Claire was not dramatic by nature. Her discomfort usually presented as irritation.
