Chương 6
I laughed once despite myself.
Then I covered my face.
The laugh broke apart.
“I spent years telling Lucas that Dad was difficult, not dishonest.”
Erin adjusted the blanket over my legs and pretended not to hear.
“I told him Charles just had an old-school management style.”
“You didn’t have the information Lucas had.”
“I had enough information to know he treated people badly.”
“That isn’t the same as knowing he stole millions.”
“No.”
I swallowed.
“But maybe I made it easier for him to keep doing whatever he was doing.”
“That question can wait.”
“No, it can’t.”
“It can until you’ve delivered your child.”
The word child silenced me.
My hand moved to my stomach.
For the first time since the porch, the baby shifted against my palm.
A firm little push.
I pressed back gently.
“Okay.”
Samantha’s voice softened.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
“Bring the memorandum.”
“And don’t show it to my father.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“He’ll ask.”
“He can ask.”
The call ended.
The unfamiliar number rang again.
I almost ignored it a second time.
Something made me answer.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Gallagher?”
A man’s voice.
“Yes.”
“My name is Daniel Cho.”
I knew the name.
Not well, but enough.
Daniel was Baldwin-Gallagher’s chief financial officer.
He had been hired by Lucas eighteen months earlier after Charles objected for nearly three weeks.
My father had called him overqualified.
Lucas had called that a feature.
“Daniel, what’s wrong?”
He paused.
“That depends on whether you’re alone.”
I glanced at Erin.
“I’m in an ambulance.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m in labor.”
Another pause, and then a quiet, involuntary, “Jesus.”
“I need you to tell me why you called.”
“I heard Charles was at your house.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“How?”
“Courtney called the office.”
“Why?”
“She wanted access to Lucas’s executive files.”
“When?”
“About forty minutes ago.”
I looked at the clock mounted above the ambulance doors.
That would have been while I was still on the porch.
“What did she say?”
“That Charles had assumed temporary authority over the company.”
“He hasn’t.”
“I know.”
“How did you know?”
“Because I’m looking at the governance documents.”
His voice was controlled, but I could hear typing in the background.
“And because Lucas left instructions.”
I stared at the phone.
“What instructions?”
“If anyone tried to exercise authority through you after his death, I was supposed to lock administrative access and call Samantha Vance.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“So everybody had instructions except me.”
Daniel went quiet.
“I’m sorry.”
It was the wrong thing to say.
“I don’t need apologies from people following my dead husband’s secret contingency plans.”
Another contraction started.
I breathed through it without putting the phone down.
Daniel waited.
When it passed, I said, “What did Courtney want?”
“Personnel records, vendor contracts, and archived payment approvals.”
“North Harbor?”
This time the silence was different.
Sharp.
“How do you know that name?”
“Samantha told me.”
“About what?”
“Lucas’s memorandum.”
Daniel muttered something I could not hear.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Daniel.”
“He told her more than he told me.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“He was compartmentalizing.”
“That sounds like a nicer word for lying.”
“Maybe.”
At least he did not argue.
“What do you know about North Harbor?”
“I know their invoices were being approved through an override credential.”
“Whose credential?”
“Charles’s.”
My free hand tightened around the blanket.
“Then why isn’t this simple?”
“Because Charles says he didn’t approve them.”
“Of course he does.”
“And there’s a problem.”
“There is always a problem.”
“The login records show his credential was used from inside our building on dates he was verifiably out of state.”
I frowned.
“So someone used his password.”
“Possibly.”
“Who had it?”
“That’s what Lucas was trying to determine.”
A tiny piece of relief appeared where I had not expected it.
Not relief that Charles might be innocent.
Relief that the story had not already finished writing him into a monster.
I hated that relief almost as much as I needed it.
“Could Courtney have used it?”
“I don’t know.”
“She notarized a forged power of attorney.”
Daniel went completely silent.
“Daniel?”
“I’m here.”
“You knew about that?”
“No.”
“Did Lucas?”
“No.”
“You sound sure.”
“Because if Lucas had known somebody was forging Victoria Gallagher’s legal signature while he was alive, he wouldn’t have spent six weeks quietly auditing invoices.”
The statement was so blunt that I trusted it.
“What did Courtney say when you refused access?”
“She said I’d regret choosing the wrong side.”
“That sounds like her.”
“Then she asked if I wanted Charles to tell the board about Rochester.”
“What’s Rochester?”
Daniel did not answer.
The pause stretched long enough that Erin looked toward me.
“Daniel.”
“There was a warehouse acquisition last year.”
“I remember.”
“I recommended against it.”
“So?”
“Lucas supported me.”
“And Dad didn’t.”
“No.”
I waited.
Daniel’s next breath came through the phone.
“Someone leaked internal projections to the seller before negotiations closed.”
The contraction that followed was strong enough to bend my spine.
I gripped the edge of the stretcher until the plastic dug into my fingers.
Erin was beside me immediately.
“Four minutes.”
I nodded because words were temporarily unavailable.
When I could speak again, I returned the phone to my ear.
“Why would leaked projections matter?”
“Because they showed how badly we needed the site.”
“So the seller raised the price.”
“By eight million.”
My mouth went dry.
“Who had the projections?”
“Six people.”
“Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Lucas?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“Two board members and you.”
I stared at nothing.
“Me?”
“You were copied on the final acquisition packet.”
“I never opened half of those attachments.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Lucas checked.”
The ambulance turned sharply.
A hospital sign appeared through the rear window.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Victoria, there’s something else.”
I almost laughed again.
“Everybody has something else today.”
“Lucas thought the leak and North Harbor might be connected.”
May you like
“How?”
“He found matching metadata on two altered files.”
