Chương 6
Vanessa opened her mouth.
I raised a hand.
"Enough."
Both women looked at me.
I turned to Clara.
"What happened after you heard the voices?"
She pressed her lips together.
"I left."
"Immediately?"
"No."
"How long?"
"I don't know."
"Roughly."
"Maybe a minute."
"What did you hear?"
"Not words."
Vanessa made a sound of disbelief.
Clara looked at her.
"I couldn't hear clearly."
"Then why were you standing there?"
"Because someone sounded angry."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Vanessa's fingers tightened around her own arm.
I watched her.
"Then Daniel came out?" I asked.
Clara nodded.
"He almost ran into me."
"What did he say?"
"Nothing at first."
"And then?"
She glanced at Vanessa.
"He told me I shouldn't be upstairs."
Daniel had never cared where staff worked.
"What happened to your wrist?"
Clara looked down.
Vanessa answered.
"That was me."
The words landed without drama.
Clara closed her eyes for a second.
I stared at Vanessa.
She did not look away.
"You grabbed her."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she was following Daniel."
"I wasn't following him."
"You walked after him."
"Because he dropped something."
Vanessa looked at her.
"What?"
Clara reached toward the pocket of her apron.
Then stopped.
Vanessa went completely still.
I saw the decision happen on Clara's face before she made it.
She reached inside and pulled out a small black plastic object.
At first I thought it was a flash drive.
Then I recognized it.
A building-access token.
Cole Meridian issued identical encrypted badges to executives who needed entry after hours.
Clara set it on the breakfast table.
"I found this near the stairs."
I picked it up.
There was no name printed on the casing.
There didn't need to be.
Owen could identify the assigned serial number in minutes.
Vanessa moved toward the table.
"Give me that."
I closed my hand around it.
"No."
Her face drained of color.
Clara stepped backward.
Vanessa stopped.
"Adrian."
"Whose is it?"
"I don't know."
"Then why do you want it?"
"Because it doesn't belong in this house."
"Neither did Daniel after eleven."
"You're making connections that aren't there."
"Maybe."
I looked at Clara.
"Is this why she grabbed you?"
Clara's silence answered.
Vanessa rubbed both hands over her face.
When she dropped them, she looked exhausted.
"I thought she stole it."
"From whom?"
"I didn't know."
"That makes no sense."
"I know."
The frustration in her voice sounded genuine now.
"I saw her pick something up after Daniel left, and when I asked what it was, she put it in her pocket."
"You didn't ask."
Clara's voice was barely above a whisper.
Vanessa turned toward her.
"I told you to give it to me."
"You grabbed my arm."
"You pulled away."
"You hurt me."
Vanessa flinched.
Not performatively.
Actually flinched.
"I know."
Clara stared at her.
"You never said sorry."
Vanessa's mouth opened and closed.
The room became painfully quiet.
I found myself thinking about how often money allowed apologies to become optional.
Vanessa had probably assumed Clara's continued employment meant the incident was over.
Clara had assumed the incident proved it was time to leave.
Two people had lived in the same house for three days carrying entirely different versions of what happened.
"I'm sorry," Vanessa said.
Clara did not respond.
Vanessa swallowed.
"I shouldn't have touched you."
Still nothing.
"And I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did."
Clara looked toward the door.
"Can I go now?"
"Yes," I said.
She left without taking the breakfast tray.
Vanessa watched the empty doorway.
"That went well."
"Don't."
"I know."
She sat in the chair beside the window.
For once, she looked smaller without trying to make herself look small.
I rolled the access token between my fingers.
"Why didn't you tell me Daniel was here?"
"Because I knew what you'd do."
"What would I do?"
"This."
She pointed at the token.
"Turn everyone into suspects."
"Someone entered my study after midnight hours before Martin began pushing a competency review."
"After eleven."
"What?"
"It wasn't midnight."
I stared at her.
She grimaced.
"That was awful timing."
Despite everything, a laugh escaped me.
Vanessa laughed too.
It lasted less than two seconds.
Then both of us stopped because the fact that we could still laugh together somehow made the rest worse.
I placed the token on the table.
"Did Daniel see you?"
"No."
"Did Martin know you were here?"
"No."
"Did anyone?"
"Clara."
"Then why tell me Daniel said Martin sent him?"
"Because that's what he told me Wednesday."
"Why would he tell you that if he didn't know you'd seen his car?"
Vanessa stared at me.
There it was.
A contradiction neither of us had noticed.
"He shouldn't have known I knew."
"No."
Her breathing changed.
I could see her reconstructing the conversation.
"He called me."
"Wednesday?"
"Morning."
"What did he say exactly?"
"He asked if I'd talked to you."
"About what?"
"He didn't say."
"And then?"
"I asked why his car had been here."
"You told him you saw it."
"Yes."
"So he did know."
Vanessa shook her head.
"No, wait."
She pressed both palms against her temples.
"He mentioned the study first."
I leaned forward.
"What words?"
"I don't know."
"Try."
"He said something like, 'If Adrian asks about the study, Martin had me pull projections.'"
Before she said anything else, I called Owen.
He answered immediately.
"I need you upstairs."
"What happened?"
"I have an access token."
A pause.
"From where?"
"Clara found it Tuesday night."
"Don't touch it more than you already have."
"Too late."
I ended the call.
Vanessa stood.
"I'm leaving."
"No."
Her head snapped toward me.
"You don't get to order me around."
"Then consider it a request."
"Why should I stay?"
"Because Owen is going to identify this badge, and if you walk out now, I'll wonder why."
She stared at me.
"That is exactly why I didn't tell you."
"Then prove me wrong."
May you like
She almost left anyway.
I saw it in the way she turned toward the door.
