Chương 12
"What does the garage footage show?"
"Your father entered at ten fifty-two through the east service door."
"With what credential?"
"His household code."
"Then who used Martin's badge at ten forty-seven?"
"We don't know."
Five minutes apart.
Two separate entries.
"Was there footage?"
"The service-garage camera covering the badge reader was disabled for nine minutes."
Daniel's face tightened.
"That wasn't Richard."
"Probably not."
"Probably?"
Owen looked at him.
"I don't use certainty where evidence doesn't give it."
"Who disabled the camera?"
"Same administrator credentials used to add the badge."
"Yours."
"Yes."
My head had begun to ache.
"Then my father arrives five minutes later."
"Yes."
"Daniel arrives when?"
"Ten fifty-six," Owen said.
Daniel nodded.
"I used the front."
"Who was already in the study when you got there?" I asked.
"My father?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Your father was in the study."
"That's not what I asked."
He looked at me.
"I don't know who was there before him."
"Did you see anyone else?"
"No."
"Did you hear anyone?"
"Not at first."
"At first?"
Daniel exhaled.
"When I walked in, your father was looking through the restructuring binder."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Daniel gave a humorless smile.
"He asked why the projections were so optimistic."
That was painfully authentic.
"What did you say?"
"That they weren't."
"And then?"
"He told me I had learned arrogance from you."
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
"Also authentic."
Daniel nodded.
"We argued."
"That's what Clara heard."
"Probably."
"What about the phone call downstairs?"
Daniel's face changed.
"What phone call?"
"After you left the study."
He stared at me.
I continued.
"Clara heard you say either 'He won't make Monday' or 'It won't make Monday.'"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"Jesus."
"Which was it?"
"It."
"What was 'it'?"
"The refinancing package."
I waited.
He opened his eyes.
"I was talking to Caroline."
"Why?"
"She asked whether we could hold the lender presentation if the board made an interim appointment Monday."
"And you said it wouldn't make Monday."
"Yes."
That explanation fit.
Too neatly, perhaps, but it fit.
"Can you prove the call?"
Daniel reached for his phone.
Owen stopped him.
"Don't manipulate it."
Daniel glared.
"I'm opening my call log."
"Then hand it to me."
"You are enjoying this."
"No."
Daniel gave him the phone.
Owen checked the call history.
"Outgoing to Caroline Mercer at eleven sixteen."
"Duration?"
"Four minutes, thirty-nine seconds."
Clara had seen him shortly after eleven.
Another piece aligned.
I felt no relief.
Every answer cleared one person while making the shape around the unknown person darker.
"What happened after you argued with my father?" I asked.
Daniel leaned against the fireplace.
"He told me Martin was moving too fast."
"Vanessa said the same thing."
"Because he is."
"Did my father tell Martin to stop?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Wednesday morning."
"Then why is Martin still holding the meeting?"
"Because your father changed his mind."
The room went quiet.
"What?"
Daniel swallowed.
"Yesterday."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I don't care what you expect."
His temper flashed again.
"Richard called Martin yesterday afternoon and told him he would support temporary succession."
My fingers went cold.
"He told you that?"
"Martin did."
"Did you hear it from my father?"
"No."
"Then it may be a lie."
"Maybe."
"But you're attending the meeting."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if I don't, I can't tell you what happens."
I looked at him.
That answer could be loyalty.
It could also be exactly what a man playing both sides would say.
Daniel saw the hesitation.
His face hardened.
"You still don't trust me."
"I don't know what I trust."
"That's convenient."
"It's accurate."
He laughed once.
"You put everyone around you under surveillance and call uncertainty honesty."
"I didn't put you under surveillance."
"No, you just let Owen pull my access logs, my calls, my movements."
"I didn't ask for your calls."
"Yet."
Owen said, "Enough."
Daniel turned on him.
"Stay out of it."
"No."
Owen's voice remained calm.
"You came here voluntarily."
"That means I volunteered to be accused?"
"It means you can leave."
Daniel looked at me.
"Do you want me to?"
The question was simple.
My answer wasn't.
I looked at the man who had known me since graduate school.
He had lied by omission.
He had entered my study without permission.
He had concealed conversations with Martin.
He had also come here before the board meeting and told me things that could damage him.
"Stay."
His shoulders lowered slightly.
"Fine."
I turned to Owen.
"Show me the footage of my father entering."
"It's on my tablet."
He brought it over.
The video had no sound.
At 10:52 p.m., my father entered through the east service door wearing a dark overcoat over a golf sweater.
He moved slowly.
Too slowly.
I watched again.
"Pause."
Owen froze the frame.
My father's left hand was against the wall.
His face looked gray even in monochrome footage.
"Zoom."
Owen enlarged the image.
Daniel leaned closer.
"What?"
I pointed.
"He's having trouble standing."
Daniel's mouth tightened.
"Could be balance."
"No."
I knew that posture.
I had seen it once before, two years earlier, when my father had developed chest pain during a charity dinner and insisted it was indigestion until he nearly collapsed in the parking garage.
"Show me the next camera."
Owen switched feeds.
My father crossed the service corridor.
Halfway down it, he stopped and pressed a hand to his chest.
Every thought about Martin, Daniel, Vanessa, the badge, and Monday vanished.
"Where is he now?"
"You said he went to the club."
I was already reaching for my phone.
My father did not answer.
I called again.
Nothing.
Daniel took out his own phone.
Owen was moving before either of us finished.
He contacted his driver.
I stared at the frozen image of my father leaning against the corridor wall.
The timestamp read Tuesday, 10:54 p.m.
He had come into my house looking ill.
May you like
He had argued with Daniel.
He had apparently changed his position on the succession less than forty-eight hours later.
