Chương 9
Emily laughed.
It was not a pleasant sound.
“My mother didn’t break my arm.”
He went silent.
The officer opened the rear door of the patrol car.
Adrian looked around once, as though waiting for someone to object.
Nobody did.
He got in.
The door closed.
Emily watched the car pull away.
She did not cry.
That worried me more than if she had.
People often mistook the absence of tears for strength.
Sometimes the body simply postponed its accounting.
Claire came onto the porch carrying Emily’s overnight bag.
“I packed some things.”
Emily looked at it.
“You went through my drawers?”
Claire immediately looked guilty.
“I didn’t know what you wanted.”
“That came out wrong.”
Emily took the bag.
“Thank you.”
Claire rubbed her palms together.
“I put your medication in the front pocket.”
“Which medication?”
“The pain pills from urgent care.”
Emily’s face changed.
“You knew where they were.”
Claire looked away.
“They were on the bathroom counter.”
“No.”
Emily stepped closer.
“They were in my nightstand.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“I came upstairs yesterday.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see if you needed anything.”
“You didn’t call me.”
“I didn’t know what to say.”
“So you searched my room?”
“No.”
Claire shook her head quickly.
“I saw the pharmacy bag.”
Emily looked unconvinced.
Claire’s voice cracked.
“I was checking because Adrian told Mom you were taking too many.”
Silence.
Emily’s face went blank.
“What?”
“He said you were using pain medication and drinking.”
“I’ve taken three pills.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I counted them.”
Emily recoiled.
Claire covered her mouth.
“Oh God.”
The sentence came out behind her fingers.
“I thought I was helping.”
Emily stared at her.
“You counted my medication.”
“I was scared he was right.”
That landed harder than accusation would have.
Emily looked toward the street.
When she spoke again, her voice was flat.
“He was building a story.”
Claire nodded slowly.
“I think so.”
Nolan appeared behind them.
“Not just with her.”
Everyone turned.
He had stopped holding ice against his lip.
The swelling had begun.
“What do you mean?” Claire asked.
Nolan looked uncomfortable.
“That stuff about Emily being unstable.”
He glanced at me, then away.
“He’s been saying it for months.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“To who?”
“People.”
“What people?”
“I don’t know.”
“Nolan.”
“Dad.”
He winced.
“Mom, obviously.”
“Obviously.”
“Me.”
He rubbed his jaw.
“Two guys at the club.”
Emily stared at him.
“Why would he tell people at the club about our marriage?”
Nolan shrugged helplessly.
“He said he was worried about you.”
Emily gave a bitter little laugh.
“He was worried about me.”
“He made it sound like you were spiraling.”
Claire sat on the porch step.
Her face had gone pale.
“He told me the same thing.”
Emily looked from one sibling to the other.
“And you believed him.”
Neither answered.
That was answer enough.
I felt my anger return, hot and immediate.
Not only at Adrian.
At every person who had accepted a convenient version because examining it would have required discomfort.
Emily noticed my face.
“Don’t.”
I looked at her.
“Don’t what?”
“Do the prosecutor thing.”
“I’m standing here.”
“You have that look.”
“What look?”
“The one where everybody in the room becomes a witness.”
Nolan shifted awkwardly.
“That is kind of the look.”
I almost snapped at him.
Instead, I put my hands in my pockets again.
“Fine.”
Emily looked at Claire.
“When did he first tell you I was unstable?”
Claire thought.
“Maybe February.”
“That early?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say sorry yet.”
Claire swallowed.
Emily turned to Nolan.
“You?”
“January, maybe.”
Emily stared at the ground.
Something was arranging itself in her mind.
I could see it happening without knowing what it was.
Then she looked at me.
“The invoices.”
“What about them?”
“I first asked Adrian about the vendors in March.”
David, who had been standing quietly near the door, straightened.
“So the comments about your mental health started before you confronted him.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know before March that you had access to the records?”
Emily frowned.
“I don’t know.”
“Think about it.”
She shook her head.
“I used his login in December to print those travel forms.”
Claire stood.
“That’s when he gave me the password too.”
David’s attention sharpened.
“December?”
Claire nodded.
“Christmas week.”
Emily looked at her.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“You were at our house the twenty-third.”
“Yes.”
“You and Adrian were in his office.”
Claire’s face changed.
“We were fixing the investor deck.”
“No.”
Emily shook her head.
“I remember because Sophie was sick, and I brought you both coffee.”
Claire looked confused.
“So?”
“You closed the laptop when I came in.”
Claire’s brow furrowed.
“I don’t remember.”
“I do.”
Emily’s breathing quickened.
“Adrian said you were looking at compensation figures.”
Claire looked toward David.
“I wasn’t.”
“What were you looking at?”
“I don’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I don’t.”
She pressed both hands against her temples.
“It was eight months ago.”
David spoke gently.
“Did Adrian ask you to change anything?”
Claire froze.
Nolan saw it first.
“What?”
Claire lowered her hands.
“He asked me to edit a slide.”
“That isn’t unusual,” David said.
“No.”
Her voice went quiet.
“Not the presentation.”
Emily stared at her.
“What did you edit?”
Claire looked sick.
“A vendor name.”
David did not move.
“Where?”
“In a PDF.”
“What PDF?”
“I thought it was for an internal budget packet.”
“Which vendor?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“North Shore Strategic.”
Emily inhaled sharply.
“That’s one of them.”
David reached slowly into his briefcase and took out a legal pad.
“Claire, do not guess.”
“I’m not guessing.”
“What exactly did Adrian ask you to do?”
She looked at her brother’s empty place in the driveway.
“He gave me a PDF and said accounting had used an old subsidiary name.”
“What did he want changed?”
“North Shore Strategic to Westbrook Logistics Consulting.”
David wrote it down.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he said it was a typo.”
“Did he ask you to save over the original?”
May you like
Claire nodded.
“Did he give you the file electronically?”
