Chương 5
“I’m not.”
“You called your lawyer before you even knew what happened.”
“I knew enough.”
“You knew I was hurt.”
“Yes.”
“And you decided to go after all of them.”
Baldric felt anger rise and forced it back down.
“I decided to stop giving Roger favors.”
“Because Derek hurt me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s revenge.”
The word stayed between them.
Baldric looked at his hands.
Maybe it was.
The possibility made him uncomfortable because part of him liked the idea too much.
“I won’t break the law.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“No.”
He rubbed his thumb across an old scar on his palm.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Arianne looked exhausted suddenly.
“What happens now?”
“To Roger’s companies?”
“To all of us.”
Baldric had no useful answer.
Arianne turned toward the window again.
Dawn had begun to thin the darkness.
His phone vibrated.
Daniel.
Baldric almost ignored it.
Then a second message arrived.
CALL ME BEFORE YOU SPEAK TO ANYONE FROM VANCE INDUSTRIAL.
He stood.
“I’ll be right outside.”
Arianne nodded.
In the hallway, Baldric called.
Daniel answered immediately.
“We have a problem.”
“What kind?”
“The kind where your daughter’s marriage may not be the only reason Derek panicked tonight.”
Baldric gripped the phone tighter.
Daniel continued.
“Roger Vance’s companies have been moving money between subsidiaries in ways our auditors flagged three months ago.”
“You told me it was liquidity management.”
“That was before Caroline pulled the underlying transfer records.”
Baldric stared through the hospital window at the parking lot below.
“What did she find?”
“A company called Marwick Consulting.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Neither had we.”
Daniel paused.
“Derek owns it.”
Baldric said nothing for several seconds.
Daniel took the silence for permission to continue.
“Marwick received just under nine million dollars from three Vance subsidiaries over eighteen months.”
“For what?”
“That’s the problem.”
Baldric turned away from Arianne’s room and lowered his voice.
“The invoices say strategic consulting, vendor acquisition, and project coordination.”
“And what did Marwick actually do?”
“We can’t find employees.”
Baldric looked through the narrow window in the hospital door.
Arianne had her eyes closed.
“That doesn’t mean fraud.”
“No.”
Daniel sounded tired now.
“It means we need to stop pretending Roger’s missed disclosures are clerical mistakes.”
“Does Roger know Derek owns it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“Already trying.”
Baldric rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“And don’t touch anything that isn’t ours to touch.”
“I know.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
Daniel paused.
“Caroline wants outside counsel brought in.”
“Do it.”
“And Baldric?”
“What?”
“If this intersects with what happened to Arianne, you need to stay out of the investigative side.”
Baldric’s first instinct was irritation.
His second was worse because Daniel was right.
“I can stay out.”
“You say that like a man planning not to stay out.”
“I’m at a hospital.”
“Good.”
Daniel sighed.
“Remain there.”
The call ended.
Baldric stood in the hallway holding the phone long after the screen went dark.
A vending machine hummed beside him.
Someone had left a granola bar half unwrapped on top of it.
For reasons he could not explain, he found himself staring at the wrapper.
He had spent decades solving problems by tracing them backward.
A bad vibration had a source.
An overheated bearing had a source.
A freight route losing money had a source.
People were harder.
People could have three reasons for doing something and believe only the fourth.
When he returned to Arianne’s room, she was awake.
“You look worse.”
“So do you.”
“That was rude.”
“You started it.”
She shifted carefully.
“What did your lawyer say?”
Baldric sat.
“That Derek owns a consulting company that received money from Vance businesses.”
Arianne’s expression barely changed.
“How much?”
“Enough that I’m worried.”
“How much, Dad?”
“About nine million.”
She stared at him.
Then she looked toward the door.
“No.”
“What?”
“No, that can’t be right.”
“Why?”
“Because Derek has been saying they’re short on cash.”
Baldric leaned forward.
“When?”
“For months.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“That his father overexpanded.”
She frowned.
“He complained about construction loans, material costs, delayed projects.”
“That could all be true.”
“He asked me to sign something.”
Baldric went still.
“What?”
“I didn’t.”
“What was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Arianne.”
“I don’t.”
She became defensive immediately.
“He brought papers home in June and said they were estate documents.”
“Did you read them?”
“I tried.”
“What stopped you?”
“He got angry.”
Baldric looked at her.
“That was enough?”
Her face closed.
He regretted the question before she answered.
“Yes.”
He leaned back.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be.”
“I am.”
Arianne rubbed her forehead.
“He said married people don’t hire separate lawyers to read routine family paperwork.”
“Did Bertha say anything?”
“She said I was embarrassing him.”
Baldric exhaled through his nose.
“What happened to the documents?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever see them again?”
“No.”
Arianne looked suddenly uncertain.
“Maybe.”
Baldric waited.
“Last week Derek was in his office shredding papers.”
“That could be anything.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to turn every strange thing he’s ever done into evidence.”
She gave him a sharp look.
“That sounds rich coming from you.”
He accepted that.
“Fair.”
Arianne looked down at her hands.
“The apartment wasn’t the only thing he found.”
Baldric’s attention sharpened.
“What else?”
“I copied files from his office computer.”
He stared at her.
“You what?”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
“He left it unlocked.”
“That is not the part I’m concerned about.”
Arianne’s chin lifted.
“He’s been lying to me for years.”
“So you copied his files?”
“I was looking for information about money.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know what I was walking into if I filed for divorce.”
Baldric stopped.
The word had arrived so plainly that it took him a second to absorb it.
“Divorce?”
“Yes.”
“You were already planning to file?”
“I talked to a lawyer.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Baldric sat back.
Arianne watched his face.
“Are you angry?”
“No.”
May you like
“You look angry.”
“I’m angry you thought you had to do all of that alone.”
