Chương 10
Nora whispered, “There he is.”
Warren looked at her.
“Be careful.”
Reyes said, “That sounded like a threat.”
“It was advice.”
“It didn’t sound like it.”
Warren exhaled sharply.
“This entire conversation is being distorted.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
She was staring at Warren with the grave suspicion children reserved for adults who spoke too smoothly.
He wanted her away from the room.
He also did not trust himself to send her with anyone.
Marcus appeared near the doorway.
Daniel caught his eye.
“Could you take Lily to the library?”
Lily immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“It’s twenty feet away.”
“No.”
“You can leave the door open.”
“No.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Lil.”
“I saved you because I stayed.”
The sentence stopped him.
Her voice was not dramatic.
It was frightened.
He saw the logic clearly because it was six-year-old logic and therefore brutally complete.
The last time an adult told her to leave, something dangerous happened.
Now leaving felt like abandoning him.
Daniel sat on the edge of a chair.
“Okay.”
Lily looked surprised.
“You can stay where you can see me.”
She nodded.
“But you do not have to listen.”
“I can still hear if I don’t listen.”
Marcus covered a smile with his hand.
Even Reyes looked away briefly.
Daniel almost smiled too.
“Fair point.”
He handed Lily his phone.
“Headphones.”
She took them.
“What do I watch?”
“Anything without murders.”
“That removes most of your apps.”
This time Marcus actually laughed.
Daniel stared at his daughter.
“When did you become eighty?”
Lily climbed onto the sofa again.
Nora watched her go.
There was grief in her face that Daniel did not want to understand.
He turned back to Warren.
“Did you give Nora the bottle?”
“No.”
Nora said, “You had someone leave it for me.”
Warren scoffed.
“Who?”
“You know who.”
“Say the name.”
Nora’s mouth tightened.
Daniel looked between them.
“Who?”
She hesitated.
“Ethan Vale.”
Daniel knew the name.
Not well.
A compliance consultant who had done work for Calder two years earlier.
Daniel had met him twice.
Quiet man.
Expensive shoes.
A habit of answering questions with questions.
“He hasn’t worked for us in eighteen months.”
Nora said, “Officially.”
Warren closed his eyes.
It was brief.
Daniel saw it anyway.
Reyes did too.
“Mr. Kline, do you know Ethan Vale?”
Warren answered more carefully now.
“I know of him.”
Nora laughed.
“You had lunch with him Tuesday.”
Warren turned toward her.
“Do you want to make this worse for yourself?”
Reyes stepped closer.
“Again, that sounds like a threat.”
Warren looked at her.
“I am telling a person who just admitted adulterating someone’s drink that making unsupported accusations may have consequences.”
Nora’s mouth twisted.
“There’s your billing voice.”
Daniel had heard her use that phrase before.
Years ago, after Warren spent twelve minutes explaining why a contract delay was technically not a delay.
Daniel had laughed then.
Now the memory made him tired.
Reyes asked Nora how she knew about the lunch.
“He told me.”
“Warren?”
“Ethan.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Phone?”
“Signal.”
Warren said, “Convenient.”
Nora looked at him.
“I exported it.”
Daniel glanced at the evidence envelope.
“Onto the drive?”
“Yes.”
Reyes nodded.
“Good.”
Warren’s face remained controlled, but one hand had disappeared into his jacket pocket.
The younger officer noticed.
“Hand out of the pocket, please.”
Warren withdrew it slowly.
His phone was in his hand.
“Put it on the table.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m asking you not to use it while we sort out what’s happening.”
“I have clients.”
Reyes looked at him.
“One of them is standing ten feet away accusing you of arranging an unknown substance used against another client.”
Warren set the phone down.
Daniel saw resentment flare across his face.
For years, Warren had been the person in the room who understood rules better than everyone else.
Now rules belonged to someone else.
Daniel found no satisfaction in it.
He asked Nora, “Why would Warren want to delay an audit he helped put in front of me?”
Nora’s expression became almost pitying.
“Because he didn’t want to delay the audit.”
Daniel frowned.
“He wanted it signed.”
“Yes.”
“Then why give you something to make me sick?”
Nora looked down.
“He didn’t.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You just said—”
“I said Ethan left it for me after Warren told him I might need a way to delay tonight.”
“That is the same thing.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Not when Warren wanted me caught.”
The room went silent again.
Warren shook his head slowly.
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
Nora looked at Daniel.
“It does if the audit was supposed to find me.”
Daniel felt cold.
Nora continued.
“The transfers are under my authorization.”
“You signed them.”
“Yes.”
“Then an audit would find you because you did it.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke slightly.
“That was the point.”
Daniel stood.
“What point?”
“To make me the endpoint.”
Warren said, “This is fantasy.”
Nora ignored him.
“The vendor accounts lead to entities I approved.”
“Because you moved the money.”
“Because Warren sent me instructions through outside counsel channels.”
Warren laughed.
“There are records of that?”
“There were.”
Daniel caught the word.
“Were?”
Nora looked at him.
“Some disappeared from the company archive.”
Warren said, “Emails get deleted.”
“Not legal-hold messages.”
That changed Reyes’s expression.
Daniel noticed.
So did Warren.
Nora continued.
“I kept copies because I stopped trusting him.”
Daniel felt anger rise again.
“You stopped trusting him six months ago and still followed his instructions?”
“I thought he was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From a disclosure that could destroy the acquisition.”
Daniel stared at her.
The Calder acquisition had been his largest deal.
Four hundred employees.
Three states.
A financing package that had nearly broken the company when interest rates shifted.
“What disclosure?”
Nora looked toward the floor.
“A revenue problem.”
“What kind of revenue problem?”
“Some of Calder’s contracts were not real.”
Daniel did not speak.
May you like
He could hear Lily’s cartoon faintly through the headphones across the room.
Bright music.
