Chương 9
“No.”
“You need to stop talking.”
“You gave me the accounts.”
Warren’s face tightened.
Officer Reyes stepped toward him.
“Sir, I need you to remain where you are.”
Warren’s eyes went to the doorway.
Daniel saw the calculation happen.
Distance.
People.
Police.
No clean exit.
Warren looked back at Nora.
“You have no idea what you’re saying.”
“I have emails.”
He went pale.
Daniel felt the entire night reorder itself in a single second.
Nora had put something in his tea.
That remained true.
But the fear on her face had never been only about the cup.
Reyes said, “Where are the emails?”
Nora looked at the black purse hanging from the chair.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“That’s why I wouldn’t let you search it.”
Daniel looked at the purse as if it had become a different object.
Officer Reyes did not touch it.
“Are the emails physically inside the purse?”
Nora nodded.
“On a drive.”
Warren said, “This is ridiculous.”
Reyes turned toward him.
“Sir, I need you to stop speaking unless I ask you a question.”
“I’m her attorney too.”
Nora laughed.
“No, you’re not.”
Warren’s face tightened.
Daniel looked from one to the other.
“You represented her?”
“I represented the company.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Warren did not answer.
Nora sat down again.
Her hands shook so badly that she tucked them beneath her thighs.
Daniel had seen her negotiate eight-figure contracts without looking at a note.
Now she looked afraid of a purse.
Reyes asked, “Ms. Nora, are you giving consent for us to retrieve only the drive you’re describing?”
Nora glanced at Warren.
His silence was suddenly louder than anything he had said.
“Yes.”
Reyes pulled on gloves.
“Tell me where it is without approaching.”
“Inside the interior zipper pocket.”
“What does it look like?”
“Silver.”
“Any other similar devices in there?”
“No.”
Reyes unhooked the purse from the chair and set it on an empty section of the dining table away from the tea service.
Daniel watched her unzip it.
Warren took a slow step backward.
The younger officer noticed.
“Stay there.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
Reyes removed a wallet, a charger, two pens, a small makeup case, and a folded grocery receipt before finding the interior pocket.
Nora looked away.
Daniel realized she was embarrassed.
The reaction seemed absurdly human against everything else.
Her private clutter was being laid out beneath the chandelier while half the room watched.
Reyes opened the zipper and withdrew a silver flash drive.
“Is this it?”
“Yes.”
Warren said, “That could contain anything.”
Daniel turned toward him.
“You seem very concerned for something that could contain anything.”
“I’m concerned because this has turned into a public spectacle.”
“You offered to be my lawyer five minutes ago.”
“And I still am.”
“No.”
Warren blinked.
Daniel’s voice stayed quiet.
“You aren’t.”
A small shift moved through the room.
Warren’s relationship to Daniel had not changed legally in that second, but socially it had.
Everyone felt it.
Warren did too.
He straightened his jacket.
“Then you need independent counsel immediately.”
“Probably.”
Daniel looked at Reyes.
“What happens to the drive?”
“We preserve it.”
“Can you read it now?”
“Not on someone’s dining room laptop.”
Daniel almost argued.
Then he stopped.
He was tired of wanting everything immediately.
Immediate answers had nearly become another form of carelessness.
Reyes placed the drive into an evidence envelope.
Nora watched her seal it.
Her face had changed again.
Some of the panic was gone.
Daniel understood why.
The thing she had been protecting was no longer hers to protect.
That should have brought relief.
Instead she looked empty.
Lily had left the sofa despite Daniel’s instruction and was standing in the doorway.
He noticed her only when she said, “Dad.”
His irritation came too quickly.
“I told you to stay there.”
She froze.
Daniel regretted the tone at once.
“Come here.”
She approached cautiously.
He knelt.
“Sorry.”
“You’re mad.”
“I am.”
“At me?”
“No.”
Lily looked at Nora.
“Is she bad?”
Nobody nearby pretended not to hear.
Daniel looked at Nora too.
He could have answered easily ten minutes earlier.
Now the easy answer felt dishonest.
“She did something bad.”
Lily frowned.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Nora made a sound that might have been a laugh if it had not broken halfway through.
Daniel rubbed Lily’s shoulder.
“I know.”
He did not give her another answer.
Reyes asked Nora where the blue bottle had come from.
Nora stared at Warren.
“He arranged it.”
Warren shook his head.
“No.”
“He said I might need a way to delay tonight.”
“Absolutely not.”
Daniel turned.
“Delay what?”
Nora looked at him.
“The vote.”
“There was no vote tonight.”
“Yes, there was.”
Daniel frowned.
“The restructuring paperwork only needed my signature.”
“That’s what Warren told you.”
Warren stepped forward.
Reyes blocked him with one arm.
Nora continued.
“The board packet had an emergency consent attached.”
Daniel felt a pressure build behind his eyes.
“What emergency consent?”
“The one removing me from Calder and approving a forensic audit.”
Daniel stared at Warren.
“I approved an audit.”
“You approved a review.”
Nora shook her head.
“The document attached tonight made it formal.”
Daniel looked at Warren.
Warren’s expression became irritated.
Not frightened now.
Irritated.
It was the expression he wore when someone misunderstood language he considered obvious.
“The board had concerns.”
“You told me the board was aligned.”
“It was.”
“Then why hide the consent in the packet?”
“I didn’t hide anything.”
Daniel laughed once.
The sound was ugly.
“You emailed me sixty-eight pages at four thirty this afternoon and told me only three required signature.”
“That isn’t hiding.”
“Did one of those three authorize a forensic audit?”
Warren hesitated.
Daniel felt something inside him settle.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell me?”
“It was in the summary.”
“No.”
“It was referenced.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“Daniel, you are a sophisticated executive.”
Daniel stared at him.
May you like
Warren continued because he mistook silence for permission.
“You cannot blame counsel because you fail to read documents.”
