Chương 5
Back then, I had stayed silent.
I was not sixteen anymore.
“Who altered the authorization, Fiona?”
Her lips parted.
Arthur made an impatient sound.
“This is ridiculous.”
Fiona looked at him.
Not at Donovan.
Not at me.
At Arthur.
And Arthur’s face changed before a single word was spoken.
It was small.
A tightening around his mouth.
A warning.
Raymond saw it too.
So did Donovan.
I felt my pulse in my fingertips.
“Dad,” Fiona said.
Arthur cut her off.
“Don’t.”
The word came sharp enough to make her recoil.
No one moved.
My father looked at me, and for the first time all evening, there was no pride in his face.
Only fear.
Arthur looked away first.
“Dad,” Fiona said again.
He rubbed one hand over his jaw.
“I said don’t.”
Donovan took a step back from both of them.
The movement was slight, but Fiona saw it.
Her face tightened as though he had shoved her.
“Don, wait.”
“For what?”
“It isn’t what you think.”
“I don’t know what I think yet.”
“That’s worse.”
“No, Fiona, it’s really not.”
Arthur pointed toward the house.
“Everybody’s worked up.”
Raymond gave him a flat look.
“People tend to get that way when fake credentials come up.”
“Nothing’s fake.”
Arthur spoke too fast.
I felt something inside me settle.
Not relief.
Recognition.
I had spent most of my life watching my father talk his way through inconvenience.
A broken promise became a misunderstanding.
A debt became bad timing.
Cruelty became honesty.
If he could rename a thing, he believed he could control it.
I looked at Fiona.
“Did he help you?”
She shook her head immediately.
“No.”
Arthur said, “That’s enough.”
I kept my eyes on her.
“Did Dad help alter the authorization?”
“No.”
“Fiona.”
“No.”
Arthur stepped toward me.
“Stop interrogating your sister.”
“I’m asking one question.”
“You’ve asked plenty.”
“Then answer it.”
His nostrils flared.
“You don’t get to come into my home and accuse me of fraud because you found some screwed-up paperwork.”
“That isn’t what I accused you of.”
“You just did.”
“I asked her.”
“That’s the same damn thing.”
Fiona pressed both hands against her temples.
“Please stop.”
No one did.
Donovan’s voice came quieter than the others.
“Who had access?”
I looked at him.
“To what?”
“The authorization.”
“Depending on the stage, several people.”
“Could Arthur?”
Fiona said, “No.”
Again, too fast.
Raymond glanced at her.
I answered carefully.
“Not directly through the system I work with.”
Arthur spread his hands.
“There you go.”
“But he wouldn’t need direct access if someone submitted supporting documentation on Fiona’s behalf.”
Arthur’s hands lowered.
Donovan looked at him.
“What kind of documentation?”
“A recommendation, correction request, appeal material, something that creates a reason for a records person to reopen a credential.”
Arthur snorted.
“So now filling out paperwork makes somebody a criminal?”
“No one said criminal.”
“You’re implying it.”
“You keep supplying words I haven’t used.”
He stared at me.
For a moment, I almost saw the version of him that used to wait outside my elementary school in a truck that smelled like coffee and sawdust.
Then his face hardened again.
“You always do this.”
“What?”
“Act superior because you know the rules.”
The accusation surprised me enough that I smiled.
It was a bad reaction.
Arthur hated it.
“There,” he said.
“That little smile.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
He was right.
I wasn’t.
Fiona looked between us.
Her composure had started to unravel in small practical ways.
One side of her jacket had slipped lower on her shoulder.
A strand of hair stuck to the corner of her mouth.
She kept touching the badge as if checking that it was still there.
Donovan noticed too.
“Take it off.”
She froze.
“What?”
“The badge.”
“No.”
“If there’s any question about it, take it off until this gets sorted.”
“I said I earned it.”
“Then taking it off tonight doesn’t erase that.”
“You don’t understand.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you don’t.”
Her voice rose.
“This is my career.”
“That’s exactly why I’m asking.”
She laughed once.
It sounded almost like a sob, but she swallowed the rest.
“You think I should just rip it off in front of everyone and let Joselyn win?”
I looked at her.
“There is no winning here.”
“Easy for you to say.”
She pointed at the folder.
“You brought ammunition.”
The word hung strangely at the range.
Raymond shifted his weight.
I said, “I brought evidence.”
“Same difference.”
“No.”
“To you, maybe.”
She looked at Donovan.
“Do you know what she’s like?”
He didn’t answer.
“She waits.”
“Fiona.”
“She waits until she has a file, a date, a signature, whatever, and then she comes in with that face.”
“What face?”
I asked.
“That one.”
She gestured helplessly.
“Like everybody else is stupid.”
I felt anger flash through me.
“You lied.”
“And you enjoy catching people.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“You enjoyed this.”
My mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
She stepped closer.
“You did.”
I thought of the moment I had stood from the dinner table.
The phones.
Arthur laughing.
The hot satisfaction when Fiona’s expression changed at the sight of the folder.
“I did for about ten seconds.”
The admission quieted her.
I hated how true it sounded.
Donovan looked at me.
I continued before I lost the nerve.
“And then I didn’t.”
Fiona stared at me.
“That’s supposed to make you better?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I’m not trying to be better.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You’ve been trying to be better than me since we were kids.”
Arthur muttered, “Here we go.”
I turned on him.
“No, actually, she’s right.”
Both of them went silent.
The words surprised me too.
I rubbed my palm against the side of my skirt.
“I wanted you to get caught sometimes.”
Fiona’s face changed.
I kept going.
“Not because I wanted your life ruined.”
May you like
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“Because every time you got away with something, Dad turned it into proof that you were smarter, tougher, more talented, whatever.”
