Chương 9
Not dramatically.
Not beautifully.
I sat on the bed with my hands between my knees while tears ran down my face and made the bruised side sting.
I cried because Daniel had hit me.
I cried because his mother had smiled.
I cried because I had still expected him to call and apologize.
I cried because part of me wanted him to.
That was the humiliating part.
Even after everything, some stupid injured piece of me wanted the husband from Sunday mornings to reappear and tell me this had all been a terrible mistake.
Instead, my phone showed eleven missed calls.
Seven from Daniel.
Three from Claire.
One from an unknown number.
There was a voicemail from Daniel.
I stared at it for a long time before listening.
“Emily, call me back.”
His voice sounded controlled.
“Whatever you think you’re doing, stop.”
A pause.
“We can fix this.”
Another pause.
“But if you start dragging lawyers and financial people into our private issues, you are going to hurt a lot more than just me.”
The message ended.
I replayed it.
Then once more.
Rachel called thirty seconds later.
“I was about to call you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“It keeps being true.”
“I have a voicemail.”
“Forward it.”
I did.
She listened while I waited.
When she came back on, her tone had changed.
“Do not delete that.”
“I won’t.”
“He is worried.”
“Yes.”
“About more than the marriage.”
“I think so too.”
“What did Noah say?”
“Enough that I am asking you to stop communicating with Daniel by phone for now.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because written communication gives us a cleaner record.”
“What did Noah say?”
Rachel exhaled.
“The covenant report appears to have been altered before.”
“How many times?”
“At least twice.”
I stood.
The room suddenly felt too small.
“By Daniel?”
“Noah cannot prove that.”
“But Daniel asked him today.”
“Yes.”
“To alter it again.”
“Yes.”
“What was hidden?”
“Cash distributions and liabilities.”
“What liabilities?”
“We are still working through that.”
“Rachel.”
“I know.”
“No, tell me what you know.”
She hesitated.
“There is a line item associated with an entity called EBR Holdings.”
I stopped walking.
“EBR.”
“Yes.”
I knew those initials before she said anything else.
Evelyn Beatrice Brooks.
“What is EBR Holdings?”
“That is what we are trying to determine.”
“Is Evelyn the owner?”
“We have not verified that.”
“Daniel formed it?”
“We have not verified that either.”
I walked to the window.
The city below looked clean and orderly from eleven floors up.
Headlights moved through intersections.
People crossed sidewalks.
Somewhere, somebody was probably complaining about dinner reservations.
“How much money?”
“Emily.”
“How much?”
“Over the last two years, Brooks Development transferred approximately eight hundred forty thousand dollars to or through EBR Holdings.”
I put one hand against the glass.
The city lights blurred slightly.
“That includes the allowance?”
“We do not know yet.”
“That is more than an allowance.”
“Yes.”
“What was it for?”
“The entries use several descriptions.”
“Such as?”
“Consulting.”
I laughed once.
“Evelyn has never consulted on anything in her life.”
“Do not assume she owns it.”
“What else?”
“Property services.”
“What property?”
“Not specified.”
“What else?”
“Reimbursement.”
“For what?”
“Not specified.”
I pressed my forehead against the cool glass.
The bruise throbbed.
“Could Daniel have been stealing from his own company?”
“I am not using that word yet.”
“Could he?”
“Possibly.”
“And if the lender was shown false reports?”
“Then the stakes increase.”
“For him.”
“For everyone connected to the loan.”
I closed my eyes.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
The door to the hotel room remained locked.
I checked it anyway.
Then the deadbolt.
Then the latch.
When I returned to the bed, a message from Claire was waiting.
Please call me.
I replied instead.
Are you safe?
Her answer came quickly.
Yes.
Then another.
Mom is at my apartment.
I stood again.
Why?
Claire took almost a minute to respond.
She says Daniel threw her out of the house.
I stared at the screen.
That made no sense.
Then another message appeared.
She has the blue folder.
I read Claire’s message twice before calling her.
She answered on the first ring.
“Don’t say anything yet,” I said.
Claire lowered her voice.
“She’s in my kitchen.”
“Is she near you?”
“No.”
“Can she hear you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What is she doing?”
“She’s making tea.”
Of course she was.
Evelyn could survive a house fire and still find a kettle.
“Where is the folder?”
“On my dining table.”
“Can you see it?”
“Yes.”
“Is it open?”
“No.”
“Do not touch it.”
Claire whispered, “I already did.”
I closed my eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I picked it up.”
“Anything else?”
“I looked inside.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did you see?”
“Financial papers.”
“That means nothing.”
“I know.”
She sounded annoyed now.
“There was your name.”
“Where?”
“On several pages.”
“What kind of pages?”
“I don’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I’m not an accountant.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Okay.”
She went quiet for a second.
“There was also something with Mom’s name.”
I stood from the bed.
“What?”
“I saw Evelyn Brooks and EBR Holdings on the same page.”
The room seemed to narrow.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Printed or handwritten?”
“Printed.”
“Anything else?”
“She came back before I could read it.”
I walked toward the desk and then back again because there was nowhere useful to go.
“Why did Daniel throw her out?”
Claire whispered even more softly.
“I don’t know the whole thing.”
“Tell me what you do know.”
“They started fighting after everyone left.”
“About what?”
“You.”
“That narrows it down.”
“And money.”
I stopped pacing.
“What money?”
“She kept saying he had promised to protect her.”
“Protect her from what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she say?”
“No.”
“What did Daniel say?”
“That he had already done enough.”
The sentence settled badly.
“Enough what?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire sighed.
“They were yelling by then.”
May you like
“What exactly did your mother say?”
“She said, ‘You don’t get to panic now after you used me for years.’”
