Chương 7
Daniel stepped in after us.
“Before you confront him, decide what you actually need to know.”
“I need to know why he lied.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You already know why people lie.”
The elevator began rising.
“You need to know what he is protecting.”
I did not answer.
On the maternity floor, the chairs outside the NICU were empty.
Grant was still inside.
I stood near the secured doors and watched the small rectangular window.
After a minute, he appeared on the other side.
His disposable gown hung loose from his shoulders.
He was following a nurse toward one of the bassinets.
I could not see the baby from where I stood.
I could see Grant.
He stopped beside the bassinet and covered his mouth with one hand.
Then he bent forward.
His shoulders shook once.
Only once.
I hated that I saw it.
I hated that part of me softened anyway.
Daniel stood several feet behind me.
He did not speak.
Lena had stayed near the elevators.
Grant remained inside for almost fifteen minutes.
When he finally came out, his eyes were red.
“He’s breathing better.”
I nodded.
“Good.”
He looked at Lena.
Then Daniel.
His expression changed immediately.
“What did you find?”
I held out my phone.
On the screen was the patent transfer document Lena had sent me upstairs.
Grant saw the date.
Then his own name.
He closed his eyes.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
No defense.
No hesitation.
The simplicity made me angrier.
“You knew what Aurelius was.”
“Yes.”
“You witnessed my father transferring Northstar’s patents to it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant looked toward the NICU doors.
“Not here.”
I almost shouted.
Instead, I lowered my voice.
“You do not get to choose the room anymore.”
His eyes met mine.
“My son is twenty-eight feet away.”
“Then tell the truth quietly.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Lena stepped closer.
“Mr. Hale, if your concern is legal exposure, you should obtain independent counsel before answering questions about corporate transactions.”
Grant gave her a bitter look.
“You must be Lena.”
“I must.”
Daniel intervened.
“Grant, she’s right.”
Grant ignored both of them.
He looked only at me.
“Your father transferred the patents because Vela had a flaw.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“You told me he wasn’t knowingly selling a defective product.”
“He wasn’t.”
“That sounds contradictory.”
“It isn’t.”
He dragged a chair away from the wall and sat.
“The defect was discovered after most of the first-generation units had already been deployed.”
“What defect?”
“A timing synchronization failure that could occur after a specific sequence of interrupted software updates.”
“Could it hurt patients?”
“Yes.”
The word was barely audible.
“How many?”
“We never knew.”
“Grant.”
“We never knew.”
His voice sharpened.
“Some incidents had dozens of possible causes.”
I stepped closer.
“So my father moved the software patents into Aurelius to hide liability?”
Grant shook his head.
“He moved them because he was terrified the company would collapse before the flaw could be fixed.”
“That is not better.”
“No.”
He looked down at his hands.
“It isn’t.”
The admission stopped me.
Grant rubbed his palms together.
“The board was already preparing a financing round.”
“If the problem became public, Northstar might lose its lenders.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad decided to hide the technology somewhere else.”
“Temporarily.”
Lena made a small sound.
Grant looked at her.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds like the word temporary is doing heavy lifting tonight.”
He almost smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
“My plan was to disclose everything after the remediation was complete.”
“Your plan?”
I stared at him.
“You were part of it.”
“Yes.”
“How much of it?”
“Enough.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the answer I have right now.”
I took another step.
“Did my father know you were going to buy those patents back for thirty-four million dollars?”
Grant’s face changed.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because he was dead.”
“That didn’t stop someone from using my credentials.”
He looked at me sharply.
“What?”
I watched him carefully.
“The Aurelius investment authorization came from the lake house four months after Dad died.”
Grant’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
His confusion looked real.
“You were there.”
He frowned.
“When?”
I gave him the date.
His face went still.
“Yes.”
“You said you never went inside.”
“I did go inside.”
“Why did you lie?”
“Because I didn’t want you to know what I was looking for.”
“What were you looking for?”
Grant looked past me at Daniel.
Then at Lena.
Finally back to me.
“Your father’s original Vela incident files.”
My pulse quickened.
“Did you find them?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Grant’s eyes shifted toward the blue folder under Daniel’s arm.
“No one was supposed to.”
“What does that mean?”
He stood slowly.
“Because before your father died, he told me he had destroyed them.”
Lena’s phone buzzed.
She glanced at the screen.
The color drained from her face.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Lena did not answer him.
She looked directly at me.
“I just heard back from Martin Vale.”
My throat tightened.
“And?”
“He says he did authorize the Aurelius investment.”
Grant stared at her.
“Why?”
Lena read the next line.
Then she looked up.
“Because Claire’s father instructed him to.”
I felt the words before I understood them.
“My father was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then how?”
Lena turned the phone toward me.
Martin’s message contained one final sentence.
The instruction had been recorded six weeks before his death and was to be executed only after Claire inherited control of the trust.
I stared at the sentence until the letters stopped feeling like language.
Grant moved first.
“Ask him what the instruction was.”
Lena’s thumbs were already moving.
Daniel stepped closer to her shoulder.
“No leading questions.”
She gave him a look.
“I’m an accountant, not a detective.”
“Tonight you’re both.”
I looked toward the NICU doors.
May you like
A nurse pushed through carrying a clear plastic bin filled with folded blankets.
The sight of something so ordinary made the hallway feel cruelly normal.
