Chương 8
Finally he said, “Why did you take the job?”
She looked at him.
“What job?”
“Mine.”
“I never had yours.”
“You know what I mean. You could have been sitting on boards. Running Northstar.”
“I do run Northstar.”
“When?”
“Mostly while you’re asleep.”
“That explains why you look tired.”
“I look tired because you schedule seven-thirty calls.”
He waited.
Claire turned the bottle slowly between her palms.
“My grandfather didn’t trust inherited competence.”
“That sounds unbearable.”
“He was.”
“Thomas liked him.”
“Your father liked difficult men.”
Adrian gave her a look.
Claire nearly smiled.
“My grandfather said ownership teaches you to protect what exists. Employment teaches you whether what exists is worth protecting.”
“So you became an assistant.”
“I became an analyst first.”
“I know your résumé.”
“No, you know the short version.”
“Apparently.”
“I worked in operations. Then your former chief of staff recruited me. When she left, you refused to replace her because you said chiefs of staff create bureaucracy.”
“I still believe that.”
“You gave me eighty percent of her work and none of her title.”
“That sounds like something I would do.”
“It is.”
He looked almost embarrassed.
“Why stay?”
Claire glanced toward the windows.
“Some days I’m not sure.”
“That’s fair.”
“The company mattered to my grandfather.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It mattered to my mother too.”
“She was a teacher.”
“Yes.”
“What did Cole Meridian have to do with her?”
Claire hesitated.
“My grandfather’s money paid for everything she hated about being a Whitmore.”
Adrian waited.
“She used to say she wanted one thing in her life nobody could mistake for inheritance. So she taught school. Thirty-one years.”
“What did she think about you coming here?”
“She thought it was funny.”
“Why?”
“She said I had found the only job where I could inherit a company and still be asked to order lunch.”
Adrian laughed.
A real laugh this time.
It escaped him before the circumstances could stop it.
Claire looked down at her water.
“My mother liked you.”
“She met me?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“A holiday reception.”
“I don’t remember.”
“I know.”
The answer was gentle.
That made it worse.
Adrian slid off the desk.
“I’m sorry.”
“She wouldn’t care.”
“I do.”
Claire nodded once.
Outside, a siren moved somewhere far below.
A few minutes later Jonah called.
Robert Chen had confirmed the administrator token could not have been renewed from Cross’s device without either Cross’s board credentials or physical access to the laptop while it was unlocked.
That narrowed things.
It did not prove them.
Then came the part that changed everything.
Cross’s laptop had connected to Cole Meridian’s guest network from Eleanor Cole’s apartment building at 9:38 the previous evening.
Adrian stood so quickly the water bottle tipped.
Claire caught it before it rolled off the desk.
“He was there.”
“Or his laptop was.”
“Don’t start.”
“I’m not defending him.”
“He told us he called her.”
“Yes.”
“He was in her building.”
“His device was.”
“Claire.”
“Adrian, I need you to stop making me be the annoying person who says these things.”
“You’re naturally gifted.”
“Thank you.”
He paced.
“My mother never mentioned he came over.”
“Maybe she didn’t know.”
“You think someone else brought the laptop?”
“I think we ask.”
He grabbed his jacket.
Claire stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To my mother.”
“The board meets in twenty minutes.”
“Then postpone it.”
“You don’t control the board.”
He stopped.
Claire raised an eyebrow.
He stared at her.
“That sentence is going to become irritating.”
“It already is.”
“You’re coming.”
“I wasn’t invited.”
“You own the company.”
“I control—”
“Claire.”
She picked up her bag.
“Fine.”
The elevator ride down took less than a minute.
It felt longer.
Two employees entered on thirty-one.
They saw Adrian.
Then Claire.
Then the folder under Claire’s arm.
One of them, a junior finance manager named Peter, suddenly became fascinated by the floor indicator.
The other said, “Morning.”
Adrian answered.
Claire answered.
Nobody spoke again.
When the employees got off, Adrian looked at Claire.
“How many people know?”
“Enough.”
“By lunch?”
“Everyone.”
He grimaced.
In the lobby, three security officers stood near the turnstiles. The youngest was the guard who had answered Adrian’s call.
Adrian recognized his voice.
The guard looked terrified.
Adrian walked past, then stopped.
The young man straightened.
“Mr. Cole.”
“You followed the board’s order.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
The guard blinked.
Adrian continued toward the doors.
Claire followed.
Outside, the day had warmed.
Her car was waiting at the curb.
Adrian’s was behind it.
He looked between them.
“Your car?”
“Yes.”
“You said it got stuck.”
“Traffic moved.”
He shook his head.
They took hers.
For six blocks neither spoke.
Claire answered two messages from outside counsel. Adrian stared through the window at pedestrians carrying coffee, a man unloading flowers, a delivery cyclist arguing with a taxi driver.
At a red light, he said, “You really have fifty-one percent.”
Claire looked up.
“Yes.”
“I keep expecting that part to become less strange.”
“It probably won’t today.”
“What do you intend to do with it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You consolidated control without knowing why?”
“I knew why.”
“What changed?”
She locked her phone.
“You.”
He turned.
Claire looked out the opposite window.
“I expected to use the votes if the debt strategy put the company at risk.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m deciding whether the larger risk is financial.”
He understood.
It hurt more because she had not said it cruelly.
The car stopped outside Eleanor Cole’s building.
The doorman recognized Adrian and opened the door before they reached it.
“Your mother’s upstairs, Mr. Cole.”
“Did Mr. Cross visit last night?”
The doorman hesitated.
Adrian felt Claire beside him without looking at her.
The man said, “Mr. Cross’s driver came by.”
“Driver?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was Mr. Cross with him?”
“I didn’t see him.”
“What did the driver bring?”
“A bag, I think. Computer bag.”
Claire and Adrian looked at each other.
“What time?”
“Around nine-thirty.”
“Who took it upstairs?”
May you like
“Mrs. Cole’s aide.”
Adrian’s mother had employed a part-time aide since a hip replacement the previous winter.
