Chương 7
Tessa glanced at me.
I said, “That removes half of New York.”
Lydia gave me a look.
It was almost normal.
Tessa wrote down three names and slid the paper across the table.
Lydia chose the woman whose name she recognized least.
Tessa made the call from the hallway.
For the next ten minutes, nothing happened.
That was almost unbearable.
I stood near the window.
Lydia picked dried petals from her bouquet one by one and lined them beside the water glass.
Raymond drank cold coffee that someone had abandoned on the counter.
Outside, the reception continued without us.
A cheer rose when someone apparently began a toast.
I wondered whether the guests knew enough to feel scandalized yet.
Probably.
People with money become extraordinarily attentive when another person’s money may be disappearing.
My phone vibrated with three missed calls from Helen.
I ignored them.
Then a fourth arrived.
I answered.
“What?”
“Eleanor, there are rumors.”
“There are always rumors.”
“Someone is saying federal agents are coming.”
“They are not.”
“Someone else said Marcus stole sixty million dollars.”
“I don’t know that.”
“Did he?”
“I just said I don’t know.”
Helen lowered her voice.
“Should I send people home?”
“No.”
“What am I supposed to tell them?”
“Dinner is being served.”
“That’s your answer?”
“Yes.”
She sighed.
“I hate when you get like this.”
“Like what?”
“Useful.”
I looked at the ceiling.
“Helen.”
“Fine.”
She hung up.
Lydia was watching me.
“Aunt Helen thinks federal agents are coming?”
“Apparently.”
“Are they?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“At this point, I’m sure of very little.”
She looked down at the petals.
“Good.”
I stared at her.
She shrugged.
“You always sound sure.”
That landed somewhere uncomfortable.
Tessa returned.
“Lydia, Dana Cho can speak with you now.”
“On the phone?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Lydia stood.
I said, “Use the study.”
She looked at me.
Then nodded.
She disappeared through the adjoining door and closed it.
Tessa waited until we heard the lock click.
Then she turned to me.
“We found something else.”
“What?”
“North Harbor did not advance twelve million dollars.”
“How much?”
“Four.”
I frowned.
“Then why is the guaranty twelve?”
“Because it covers principal, fees, penalties, and additional advances.”
“Additional advances that haven’t happened.”
“Correct.”
“Can they still happen?”
“Not if our notice has the effect we hope it does.”
Raymond said, “And the four million?”
Tessa’s expression tightened.
“Transferred yesterday morning.”
“To Thorne Biomedical?”
“No.”
That single word changed the room.
“Where?”
“A special-purpose entity called TBS Acquisition Holdings.”
I had never heard the name.
“Who controls it?”
“We’re still tracing that.”
My phone vibrated.
A message from Julia appeared.
CALL.
I answered immediately.
“What did you find?”
“Eleanor, the four million left the acquisition account ninety minutes after it arrived.”
“Where did it go?”
“Three wires.”
“To whom?”
“One to a payroll processor.”
“That sounds legitimate.”
“It may be.”
“And the others?”
“One went to a consulting company in Delaware.”
“How much?”
“One point six million.”
“The third?”
Julia paused.
“Two million dollars went to an escrow account connected to a residential property purchase.”
I stared at Tessa.
She was already watching my face.
“What property?”
“A penthouse on East Seventy-Third.”
My mouth went dry.
Lydia had mentioned a Manhattan penthouse.
“Buyer?”
“I’m sending it now.”
The document arrived while Julia was still speaking.
I opened the attachment.
At the top of the purchase contract was Marcus’s name.
Below it was another.
Lydia Thorne.
I looked toward the locked study door.
“She doesn’t know,” I said.
Julia replied, “Then somebody expected her signature to do more work than she did.”
The study door opened before I could answer Julia.
Lydia stepped out holding her phone against her chest.
Her face had changed again, but this time fear had been replaced by something flatter.
“What happened?”
I ended the call.
“Tessa will explain the legal part.”
Lydia looked between us.
“That means you found something.”
Tessa picked up the printed contract.
“Dana should probably be on the line for this.”
“She is.”
Lydia lifted her phone.
A woman’s voice came through the speaker.
“I’m here.”
Tessa nodded.
“Good.”
She slid the contract across the table.
Lydia read the first page.
Then the second.
Her eyes stopped moving.
“No.”
She read the names again.
“No.”
I watched her thumb press so hard into the paper that it bent.
Dana Cho said, “Lydia, have you ever seen that purchase agreement before?”
“No.”
“Have you ever discussed buying that property?”
“Marcus talked about it.”
“When?”
“Months ago.”
“What did he say?”
“That it would be good for us.”
“Did you agree to buy it?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize him to sign for you?”
“No.”
Tessa said, “The escrow received two million dollars today from an entity connected to Marcus’s company.”
Lydia looked up.
“What?”
“Part of the loan proceeds.”
“That’s investor money.”
“Possibly.”
“No, that is investor money.”
Her voice rose.
“He told me every dollar was going into operations.”
Dana said, “Slow down.”
Lydia stood.
“I am not slowing down.”
“Lydia.”
“No.”
She shoved the contract away.
“He told me people were going to lose their jobs if I didn’t help him.”
Her breathing became shallow.
“He said payroll was failing because a hospital group delayed payment.”
No one interrupted.
“He said the bridge loan would keep the company alive for six weeks.”
She laughed once.
“He made me feel guilty for asking where the money was going.”
I said, “Did he tell you about the penthouse?”
“He said he wanted to surprise me.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“That someday we’d have a place in Manhattan that was ours.”
She looked at the contract again.
“I thought he meant someday.”
Dana’s voice stayed level.
“Did you sign any real estate documents in the last sixty days?”
Lydia’s eyes narrowed.
“I signed something through DocuSign.”
“When?”
“Tuesday.”
Tessa and I looked at each other.
“What did you think it was?” Dana asked.
May you like
“An updated insurance disclosure.”
“Did you read it?”
