Chương 10
When he finally ended the call, he kept the phone in his hand.
“What happened?” I asked.
He looked at Madison first.
Then at me.
“Franklin & Boyd received a trustee resignation by courier on December sixteenth.”
Nobody moved.
I heard Ethan whisper, “What?”
Daniel continued.
“They rejected it because the signature did not match the specimen they had on file.”
Madison’s eyes widened.
“I didn’t send that.”
Daniel watched her.
“They also received an attached physician letter stating that Margaret was experiencing cognitive decline and had been advised to reduce financial responsibilities.”
For several seconds, the only sound was the furnace vent under the porch roof humming warm air into the entryway behind Madison.
I looked at her.
She shook her head before I spoke.
“No.”
My voice barely came out.
“Whose physician?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“The letterhead says Dr. Samuel Kline.”
I knew the name.
So did Ethan.
His face went white.
Dr. Kline had been my primary care physician for eleven years.
I took one step toward Madison.
She backed away.
“I did not do that.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Then who did?”
Madison looked from Ethan to me, then back to Daniel.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan’s face twisted.
“You don’t know?”
“I didn’t send a doctor’s letter.”
“You sent everything else.”
“I said I didn’t send it.”
“You forged my signature.”
“I signed for you.”
“That is not better.”
“I did not forge Margaret’s doctor.”
Daniel raised one hand.
“Stop.”
They both looked at him.
“If this letter is false, arguing about who forged what in a driveway is useless.”
Madison’s breathing was shallow now.
“What did Franklin say?”
“They preserved the envelope and the documents.”
“Who sent it?”
“The courier label lists Alder Strategic Partners.”
Her face drained.
“That doesn’t mean I sent it.”
Ethan stared at her.
“It’s your company.”
“Anyone with access to the office could have used the account.”
“Who has access?”
She hesitated.
Daniel noticed.
“So there is someone else.”
Madison looked down at the snow.
“Peter had access.”
Ethan took a step toward her.
“Peter Vale?”
“Yes.”
“You gave the lender access to your office?”
“He wasn’t just the lender.”
The cold seemed to sharpen around us.
“What does that mean?” Ethan asked.
Madison wrapped her coat tighter.
“He was advising me.”
“On what?”
“Financing.”
“That is what lenders do.”
“He also helped structure Alder.”
Daniel’s tone changed.
“Was he compensated?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“A fee.”
“How much?”
Madison did not answer.
“How much?” Ethan repeated.
“Two percent.”
“Of what?”
“The capital raised.”
Ethan stared.
“We didn’t raise capital.”
“We raised the North Vale loan.”
“You paid the lender for arranging his own loan?”
“He introduced the facility.”
“To his own company?”
“It is not his company.”
“His last name is Vale.”
“That doesn’t make it his company.”
Daniel looked at her carefully.
“What is Peter’s relationship to North Vale Capital?”
Madison rubbed her forehead.
“He said he was a managing partner.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You said earlier he arranged financing.”
“He did.”
“You also said you met him later.”
“I did.”
“Through who?”
She looked toward the house.
“The accountant.”
Ethan blinked.
“What accountant?”
Madison said nothing.
“The accountant you said sent the email.”
She looked at him.
“Peter introduced me to him.”
Ethan let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh.
“So Peter introduced you to the accountant who helped with the company that paid Peter to arrange a loan from a firm where Peter is a managing partner.”
Madison’s jaw tightened.
“When you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous.”
“That may be because it is.”
She glared at him.
I looked at Daniel.
“Is North Vale legitimate?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means you think it might not be.”
“It means I don’t make fraud accusations without checking.”
Ethan looked down at the agreement in his hands.
“Could we have been scammed?”
Madison snapped, “We were not scammed.”
Daniel said, “You don’t know that either.”
“I know Peter.”
“For how long?”
“Almost a year.”
“Socially?”
“No.”
“Professionally?”
“Yes.”
“How many times have you met him in person?”
She paused.
Ethan looked up sharply.
“How many?”
“Three.”
His expression went blank.
“You built all this around a man you met three times?”
“We spoke constantly.”
“On the phone?”
“Yes.”
“Video?”
“Sometimes.”
“Office?”
“He traveled.”
“Of course he traveled.”
Madison stepped toward him.
“Don’t start acting superior.”
“I’m not acting superior.”
“You stole forty-eight thousand dollars from your employer.”
His face tightened again.
She kept going.
“You were desperate when I met Peter.”
“I was scared.”
“You were drowning.”
“And you found someone selling boats.”
“Stop.”
“No.”
For the first time, Ethan’s anger seemed cleaner than his shame.
“You kept telling me there was always one more bridge.”
“One more fee.”
“One more document.”
“One more month.”
“One more loan.”
“And every time I said we should shut it down, you told me we were too close.”
Madison’s eyes filled.
“We were close.”
“To what?”
“To being free of your mother.”
The words landed harder than anything else she had said.
I felt no anger at first.
Only tiredness.
Then Ethan looked at me.
Something in his face broke.
“Mom.”
I raised a hand.
“Not now.”
Madison wiped under one eye with the side of her finger.
“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”
“It sounded very clear.”
“You controlled everything.”
“No.”
“You controlled whether Ethan could fail.”
I stared at her.
She continued.
“You controlled whether he had to live with consequences.”
“I did that badly.”
“Yes.”
Her voice cracked.
“You made it impossible for him to become an adult without losing you.”
Ethan whispered, “Madison, stop.”
“No.”
She looked at him now.
“You think she didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
“That every time she wrote a check, you came home humiliated.”
His face changed.
“Don’t.”
“You would sit in the kitchen and drink bourbon and hate yourself.”
“Stop.”
“You said you felt twelve years old every time you asked her for money.”
May you like
“Stop.”
“You said you couldn’t breathe in her house because she looked at you like a little boy.”
