Chương 14
“What kind of unusual?”
“He said letters.”
My stomach tightened.
“Letters from who?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because it didn’t seem important.”
“Harper.”
“I know.”
“No, tell me what he actually said.”
She took a breath.
“He asked whether David had left instructions.”
Bell moved closer.
“What wording?”
Harper looked at her.
“He said, ‘Did David leave Claire any special instructions before he went overseas?’”
I felt cold despite the kitchen heat.
“Did you answer?”
“I said I didn’t know.”
“What did he do?”
“He asked again later.”
“When?”
“Maybe August.”
“Where?”
“At dinner.”
“Here?”
“No.”
She looked at my parents.
“At their house.”
My father frowned.
“I don’t remember that.”
“You were outside.”
My mother’s face changed.
“I remember.”
We all looked at her.
She released Harper’s hand slowly.
“He asked about a safe.”
The room went still.
I stared at her.
“What safe?”
“He asked whether Claire and David kept one.”
My father looked at her.
“You never told me that.”
“I thought he was being nosy.”
My mother looked at me.
“I told him married people were entitled to privacy.”
That sounded exactly like her.
Soft words, firm boundary.
“What did he say?”
“He laughed.”
She hesitated.
“And then?”
“He said something like, ‘You’d be surprised what people hide from their spouses.’”
Bell glanced toward the staircase.
Keene appeared at the top almost immediately, as if she had been listening from just out of sight.
“Was that before or after David’s death?”
My mother looked up.
“After.”
Keene descended slowly.
“Approximate date?”
“August.”
Keene’s jaw tightened.
“That fits.”
“With what?” I asked.
She looked at Bell before answering.
“With the first financial anomaly flagged during the Black Ridge review.”
Harper’s grip tightened around my mother’s hand.
“What kind of anomaly?”
Keene looked at me.
I nodded.
Harper had already been pulled into this whether we liked it or not.
Keene chose her words carefully.
“A transfer linked indirectly to a subcontractor associated with the operation.”
“How much?”
She hesitated.
“Just under two hundred thousand.”
Julian’s forty-thousand-dollar problem suddenly felt small.
“Where did it go?”
“We never established final beneficial ownership.”
Bell folded her arms.
“Could it have touched Lane’s business?”
“Possibly.”
Harper shook her head.
“No.”
Keene looked at her.
“No what?”
“He would have told me.”
The words sounded weak even to Harper.
Her face showed it.
“He tells me about big clients.”
Bell said nothing.
Harper looked around the room.
“No, he used to tell me.”
That correction hurt.
I could see it.
She let go of my mother’s hand.
“When did the transfer happen?”
Keene answered.
“Three months after David died.”
Harper stared at the table.
“That’s when Julian paid off the business line.”
Bell’s gaze sharpened.
“What business line?”
“He had a credit facility.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Estimate.”
“One-fifty?”
My father swore again.
Harper looked at him.
“You can stop being shocked at every number.”
“I’ll stop when the numbers stop being insane.”
“Frank,” my mother said.
He threw up both hands.
“Fine.”
Bell asked Harper, “How was the line paid?”
“I thought from client fees.”
“Did you see statements?”
“No.”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That his accountant handled it.”
Bell made a note.
I looked at Harper.
“You believed him?”
She glared at me.
“For years, yes.”
I took the hit.
Fair.
She looked away.
“I believed my husband.”
The sentence sat between us with more accusation than she probably intended.
I thought of David’s omissions.
My classified work.
Our cover stories.
All the things Harper had not been allowed to know.
Trust was not simple.
It was possible to be lied to for good reasons and bad ones and still bleed the same when you discovered the gap.
Bell’s phone vibrated again.
She checked it.
“Julian is asking for counsel.”
Harper closed her eyes.
My father leaned against the counter.
Bell continued.
“He also surrendered the document voluntarily.”
Keene asked, “Anything else on him?”
“Wallet, keys to nothing here, one flash drive.”
Every muscle in my shoulders tightened.
“Flash drive?”
“Unmarked.”
Keene looked at Bell.
“Preserve it offline.”
“Already instructed.”
Harper stood abruptly.
“Can I see him?”
Bell shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“He’s my husband.”
“I understand.”
“No, you keep saying that.”
Harper’s voice rose.
“You all keep saying you understand, but nobody is telling me whether he’s a criminal or an idiot or both.”
Bell did not flinch.
“We don’t know yet.”
Harper laughed bitterly.
“You know enough to chase him through a neighborhood.”
“He ran.”
“He panicked.”
“Yes.”
“People panic.”
“Yes.”
“He has money problems.”
“Yes.”
“He makes stupid decisions.”
“Yes.”
Harper’s eyes filled again.
“You’re not helping.”
Bell’s voice softened by a fraction.
“I’m not trying to make this easier than it is.”
That silenced her.
Harper sat back down.
My mother brought her a glass of water.
She did not drink it.
Keene motioned me toward the hallway.
I followed.
“What?”
She lowered her voice.
“The card was authenticated.”
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
“And?”
“It references a protected repository.”
“What’s in it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“You just said it authenticated.”
“The credential is valid.”
“That doesn’t mean the contents are still there.”
“Correct.”
I looked toward the kitchen.
“What does Julian’s flash drive change?”
“Potentially nothing.”
“That is not how you’re standing.”
Keene exhaled.
“Claire.”
“Mara.”
“If the drive contains anything associated with D-17, then we have to consider that David’s fallback channel was discovered before today.”
“By Julian?”
“Or someone using him.”
“Was he part of this before David died?”
“We don’t know.”
I remembered the driveway.
David carrying the damaged suitcase.
Julian talking too much.
David returning quieter than he left.
“David knew something.”
“Maybe.”
“No.”
I looked at Keene.
“He avoided Julian after that summer.”
She frowned.
“How?”
“He stopped sitting near him.”
“That’s thin.”
“I know.”
“He skipped one dinner when Harper and Julian came.”
“Could be coincidence.”
May you like
“He stopped asking about Harper’s business.”
Keene stared at me.
