Chương 4
“You just got here.”
“I drove through the night because Claire asked me to come.”
Mom’s mouth closed.
Claire glanced at me, then away.
Dad shoved his phone into his pocket.
“Fine, you’re here, so tell us what to do.”
The old command was back in his voice, weakened but recognizable.
I almost laughed.
Instead, I asked, “Who is your lawyer?”
“Leonard Pierce is handling Mark’s side.”
“I mean yours.”
Dad frowned.
“He represents the firm.”
“Then he does not represent you.”
“He’s known Mark for years.”
“That makes it worse, not better.”
Mom pressed both hands to her temples.
“Emma, please don’t start complicating everything.”
I looked at her.
“Everything is already complicated.”
A catering employee pushed a cart past us with six untouched silver coffee urns, moving carefully around a scattering of pale rose petals on the stone.
For several seconds, all four of us watched him.
It was ridiculous how normal his concentration looked.
He had a job to finish.
We were merely an obstacle in his route.
Claire wrapped her arms around herself.
“What should I do?”
“First, find an attorney who represents only you.”
“I don’t have one.”
“I can give you names.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“What do I tell them?”
“The truth.”
Dad made an impatient noise.
“She doesn’t know the truth.”
“She knows what she signed.”
Claire’s head snapped toward me.
“I signed wedding things.”
“What wedding things?”
“Contracts.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know.”
I held her gaze.
“Then that’s what you need to figure out before you say anything to investigators.”
Her breathing became shallow.
“I signed things Mark gave me.”
Dad swore under his breath.
Mom immediately said, “You didn’t understand them.”
Claire turned on her.
“Could you stop doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Answering for me.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“You told me he was perfect.”
Mom recoiled.
“So did you.”
“I was marrying him.”
“And we trusted your judgment.”
The words landed badly.
Claire’s expression changed from fear to something colder.
“You moved your retirement money to him before we were engaged.”
Mom opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Dad rubbed the back of his neck.
“This is pointless.”
“No,” Claire said.
Her voice had become strangely calm.
“It’s actually the first useful conversation we’ve had since yesterday.”
Dad looked at me.
“This is what happens when you show up.”
I felt the remark hit an old place.
For a second, I was thirteen again, standing beside a broken lamp while Claire cried convincingly enough to make my father decide I had pushed her.
I hated that the memory still had that kind of access to me.
I hated more that he could still find the door without knowing it existed.
“I can leave.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
“No.”
Dad exhaled sharply.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it.”
“I am under a little pressure here, Emma.”
“So is everyone else.”
He looked away.
A black SUV turned slowly through the estate entrance, and every person near the fountain watched it.
The vehicle belonged to a rental company.
A young couple got out, confused, carrying garment bags and a wrapped gift.
One bridesmaid hurried over to intercept them.
Life kept arriving late to a wedding that no longer existed.
Claire sat down on the edge of the fountain.
“Mark told me the agents were trying to scare him.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
I crouched a few feet from her.
“Before the arrest?”
She nodded.
“He got a call around seven.”
“What did he say?”
“That there was an issue with a bank.”
“What kind of issue?”
“He said a transfer had been flagged.”
Dad stepped closer.
“How much?”
Claire looked up at him.
“Five million.”
My stomach tightened.
Dad went pale.
“Five million dollars?”
“She said five million.”
“From where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I said I don’t know.”
Her voice cracked this time.
She wiped her cheek angrily.
“He was pacing around the room and talking to somebody named Victor.”
That name meant nothing to me.
“Did you hear the conversation?”
“Pieces.”
“What pieces?”
“He said the bank had no right to hold his money.”
“His money?”
“That’s what he said.”
She looked down at her hands.
“He also said something about Grand Cayman.”
Dad sat heavily in the chair Mom had abandoned.
Nobody spoke for a moment.
A leaf blower started somewhere beyond the event lawn.
The sound was absurdly loud.
Mom finally whispered, “Why would he be moving that much money on our wedding weekend?”
Claire laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“I asked him.”
“And?”
“He told me rich people move money every day.”
My father closed his eyes.
I could almost hear the sentence in Mark’s voice.
Easy.
Condescending.
Just plausible enough if you desperately wanted it to be.
Claire looked at me again.
“Then he asked me for my phone.”
“Why?”
“He said his battery was dead.”
“Was it?”
“I didn’t check.”
“What did he do with yours?”
“He went into the bathroom.”
Mom’s head jerked up.
“For how long?”
“Maybe five minutes.”
“Did you see what he did?”
“No.”
Claire’s face changed.
“Emma.”
I already knew what she was about to ask.
“Could he have transferred money from my phone?”
“Possibly.”
“I have banking apps.”
“That doesn’t mean he accessed them.”
“He knew my passcode.”
“Did he know your passwords?”
“I don’t know.”
Dad stood again.
“Check the accounts.”
“Don’t.”
He stared at me.
“What?”
“Not from her phone.”
“Why not?”
“Because if investigators are already examining devices and transactions, she should not start opening accounts impulsively and changing anything.”
“I’m not saying change anything.”
“I know what you’re saying.”
“I want to know whether he stole from my daughter.”
Claire’s shoulders stiffened at the word daughter.
I noticed it.
Dad did not.
I pulled my own phone from my bag.
“I’m calling someone.”
“Who?”
“An attorney I trust.”
Dad crossed his arms.
“We already have attorneys.”
“No, Mark has attorneys.”
May you like
Mom sat beside Claire.
This time Claire did not move away, but she did not lean toward her either.
