Chương 7
“The apartment?”
“Yes.”
“The trips?”
“Yes.”
“The car?”
He hesitated.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“The car was company money.”
“It was structured.”
“Oh my God.”
“It wasn’t stolen.”
Noah looked up.
“That depends rather heavily on which books you’re reading.”
Daniel pointed at him.
“You need to be very careful.”
Noah’s expression barely changed.
“I’m an accountant.”
“That’s our entire personality.”
The ridiculousness of the sentence broke something in Caroline, and she laughed.
I did too.
It came out wrong.
Too sharp.
Vanessa began laughing with us, then suddenly started crying.
Daniel stared at all three women as if we had become incomprehensible at exactly the wrong time.
That was when his phone rang.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
I saw it.
So did Caroline.
“Who is it?” she asked.
Daniel declined the call.
Three seconds later it rang again.
Noah leaned toward his laptop.
“Evelyn.”
I looked at him.
He turned the screen.
A new email had arrived in the secure account Miriam had created for the investigation.
The sender was Julian Mercier.
The subject line contained four words.
Daniel lied about everything.
Before anyone could speak, the hotel room phone began ringing.
Daniel looked at it.
Then at me.
For the first time since I had known him, he seemed uncertain which crisis belonged to him first.
The room phone rang a third time before Miriam picked it up.
“Suite 1907.”
She listened.
Her eyes moved toward Daniel.
“No, he’s here.”
Daniel crossed the room.
Miriam turned away from him.
“Who is this?”
A pause.
Then she held the receiver toward me.
“For you.”
I took it.
“Hello?”
A man’s voice answered in careful English.
“Mrs. Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
“This is Julian Mercier.”
Daniel stopped moving.
I looked at him.
His face had gone pale around the mouth.
Julian continued.
“I apologize for contacting you this way.”
“How did you get this number?”
“I called the hotel and asked for your event office.”
“That doesn’t explain how you knew I was here.”
“No.”
He hesitated.
“Your sister-in-law told me.”
I looked at Caroline.
She raised her chin.
Daniel’s voice cut across the room.
“Hang up.”
Julian heard him.
“Is Daniel there?”
“Yes.”
“Do not let him speak for me.”
Daniel came closer.
I stepped away.
“What did he lie about?”
Julian was silent for two breaths.
“The collateral.”
Noah’s hands stopped above his keyboard.
“What collateral?”
“The properties in the Preservation Trust.”
Daniel said, “Evelyn, end the call.”
I ignored him.
Julian continued.
“Daniel sent me documents showing that the trust had approved the pledge.”
My fingers tightened around the receiver.
“That is impossible.”
“I know that now.”
“When did he send them?”
“February.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
Noah reached for a legal pad.
I said, “What documents?”
“A trustee consent.”
My mouth went dry.
“Signed by whom?”
“You.”
Nobody in the suite made a sound.
Daniel looked at the carpet.
That was worse than denial.
I asked Julian to repeat himself.
He did.
“A consent bearing your signature.”
I stared at Daniel.
“You forged my name.”
He looked up.
“No.”
Julian said something in my ear, but I missed it.
“What?”
“I said I sent the file to your attorney.”
Miriam was already checking her phone.
Daniel took another step toward me.
“It wasn’t a forgery.”
I covered the receiver.
“What would you call it?”
“A preliminary document.”
“With my signature.”
“You signed related authorization papers years ago.”
“Not this.”
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
He heard himself.
So did everyone else.
Vanessa whispered, “Daniel.”
He turned on her.
“Stay out of it.”
She recoiled.
I put the phone back to my ear.
“Julian, did you rely on that document?”
“Yes.”
“To lend him money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-four million dollars in total.”
Noah looked up sharply.
The number was larger than anything we had traced.
Julian lowered his voice.
“I believed the trust properties would secure the final tranche if Miami failed.”
“They cannot.”
“I understand.”
“Who prepared the document?”
“I do not know.”
“Did Daniel send it directly?”
“Yes.”
“From what address?”
“His Whitmore account.”
Miriam began writing.
Daniel laughed under his breath.
It was a brittle sound.
“You people are acting like a draft financing package is a murder weapon.”
I looked at him.
“You forged a trustee consent.”
“I did not forge anything.”
“Then who signed my name?”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Evelyn, there were dozens of drafts.”
“You said it wasn’t a forgery.”
“It wasn’t meant to be executed.”
“Julian relied on it.”
“That was not my intention.”
Julian spoke in my ear.
“He is lying.”
Daniel heard the faint voice.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“He has been blackmailing me for months.”
Julian became quiet.
I asked, “Is that true?”
“No.”
Daniel said, “Ask him about the board seat.”
Julian answered before I could.
“I asked for acknowledgment of my father.”
Daniel laughed.
“You demanded a director position.”
“I asked for one.”
“You threatened to expose everything if I refused.”
“I said I would contact Evelyn because you had stopped answering questions about the loans.”
Daniel pointed at the phone as if Julian were physically present.
“That is a threat.”
“No,” I said.
“That is contacting the trustee whose signature you used.”
Daniel looked at me with open contempt.
“You want to believe him because it helps you.”
The sentence hurt because some part of it was true.
I did want Julian to be useful.
I wanted every person in the room to arrange themselves into innocent and guilty columns so I could stop thinking.
Life refused.
I said into the receiver, “Why did you lend Daniel the money?”
Julian exhaled slowly.
“My mother died last year.”
Caroline looked toward the window.
Julian continued.
“She spent her life being invisible to your family.”
His voice had changed.
The polished distance was gone.
“After she died, I found letters from Richard.”
Caroline sat down.
May you like
Daniel’s expression hardened.
Julian said, “He promised her that eventually he would tell the truth.”
