Chương 15
“In a locked cabinet, they found multiple photocopies of identification documents.”
“Mine?”
I asked.
“Yours, Ethan’s, Madison’s.”
He paused.
“And several other people.”
Madison had reopened the front door without us hearing.
She stood there staring at Daniel.
“What other people?”
“Some names the officers do not recognize.”
She walked down the steps.
“Are there copies of trust statements?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Several.”
“What else?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Bank correspondence.”
My stomach tightened again.
“And?”
“A physician letter.”
“The fake one?”
“He did not say.”
Madison came closer.
“Did they find anything with Peter’s name?”
Daniel checked his notes.
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“A folder labeled Vale.”
Ethan pushed away from the car.
“What’s in it?”
“They have not opened every document.”
“Can they?”
“They will handle it according to whatever investigative authority they establish.”
Madison pressed both palms against her temples.
“This is impossible.”
I watched her.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It’s expensive.”
Her hands dropped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone spent months making this possible.”
No one answered.
The idea settled over us.
Not a mistake.
Not one reckless loan.
Not a frantic forged signature.
A system.
Daniel’s phone buzzed again.
He read the message and went still.
“What now?” Ethan asked.
Daniel looked at Madison.
“The officers asked whether you employ Victor Saye.”
“I told you I don’t know him.”
“He says you do.”
Her face went blank.
“What?”
“He says he has been doing document preparation for Alder Strategic Partners for six months.”
“That is a lie.”
“He says he was paid through an account ending in four-six-one-nine.”
Madison shook her head.
“I don’t know that account.”
Ethan stared at her.
“I do.”
She turned.
“What?”
“That’s the old operating account.”
Her eyes widened.
“We closed that.”
“No.”
He pulled out his phone.
“We stopped using it.”
Madison moved closer.
“I told you to close it.”
“I thought you did.”
They stared at each other.
Ethan opened his banking app.
His thumb moved down the screen.
Then stopped.
“What?”
I asked.
He looked at Madison.
“There are transactions.”
She stepped closer.
“That’s impossible.”
“Weekly payments.”
“To who?”
“V. Saye Consulting.”
Madison’s face went completely still.
Ethan scrolled farther.
“How much?” Daniel asked.
“Two thousand a week.”
“For six months?”
“Looks like it.”
Madison shook her head.
“I did not authorize those.”
“Who had access to the account?”
Ethan looked at her.
“You.”
She looked at him.
“And you.”
Neither spoke.
Daniel extended his hand.
“Show me the transaction history.”
Ethan gave him the phone.
Daniel scanned several entries.
Then stopped.
His expression changed again.
“What?”
I asked.
He enlarged one payment detail.
“These were initiated through an administrator login.”
Ethan frowned.
“There is only one administrator login.”
“Whose?”
Ethan looked at Madison.
“Hers.”
Madison stepped backward.
“No.”
She shook her head harder.
“No, that’s not possible.”
Daniel held the phone toward her.
She stared at the screen.
Then whispered, “Peter set up my access.”
Madison stared at the transaction screen as if the numbers might rearrange themselves if she waited long enough.
“He created the administrator profile,” she said.
Ethan’s face hardened.
“You gave him your credentials?”
“No.”
“Then how did he log in as you?”
“I don’t know.”
“You gave him something.”
“I gave him temporary access when we set up the payment system.”
“How temporary?”
“A day.”
Ethan laughed without humor.
“Apparently six months.”
Daniel held up the phone.
“This is not something we solve tonight.”
Madison wiped her face again.
“I need to call Peter.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“I need to hear him explain this.”
“No.”
“He used my account.”
“Which is exactly why you should not warn him that you know.”
Her mouth opened.
Then closed.
For the first time all evening, she listened.
The police called Daniel again twenty minutes later.
Victor Saye had been taken in for questioning after officers confirmed that he had no lease, employment documentation, or authorization he could produce on the spot.
The shredder bags and office computers would remain undisturbed pending further instructions and whatever warrants investigators decided to seek.
Peter Vale was not there.
By one in the morning, the snow had thickened enough that Daniel stopped arguing with me about leaving and started arguing about road conditions instead.
I finally drove home with him behind me and Ethan in his own car.
Madison stayed at the house.
He had asked whether I wanted him to stay with her.
I told him that was his decision.
He followed me anyway.
We reached my house shortly before two.
The porch light was still on because I had forgotten to set the timer after daylight saving time.
That small failure irritated me more than it should have.
Inside, I made tea.
Ethan stood in my kitchen wearing the same shirt he had worn to Christmas dinner.
He had no coat because he had left Madison’s wearing mine from the guest closet, an old navy wool coat that had belonged to his father.
It hung badly on him.
I noticed that before I noticed anything else.
“You can sleep in the guest room,” I said.
He nodded.
Neither of us mentioned that it had once been his room.
Daniel sat at the kitchen table making notes.
At two-thirty, he left with copies of everything Ethan had brought from the house.
Before going, he looked at both of us.
“Do not contact Peter.”
Ethan nodded.
I said nothing.
Daniel looked directly at me.
“Margaret.”
“I heard you.”
“That isn’t the same as agreeing.”
“I agree.”
“Good.”
After he left, Ethan remained at the table.
The house felt unnaturally quiet.
He stared at the mug in front of him.
“I should have told you in September.”
“Yes.”
“I almost did.”
I waited.
He rubbed his thumb along a crack in the glaze.
“I drove here twice.”
“You did?”
“I got as far as the driveway.”
“What stopped you?”
He gave a tired smile.
“You.”
I looked at him.
May you like
He shook his head.
“Not literally.”
