Chương 11
I knew the voice.
Ethan looked at me.
My mouth went dry.
Vanessa continued before anyone answered.
“Please don’t hang up.”
Ruiz stepped closer.
“Identify yourself.”
Vanessa went silent.
Then she whispered, “Oh God.”
“Vanessa,” I said.
Another silence.
“Claire.”
Her voice broke.
I had heard Vanessa sound confident, bored, amused, irritated, drunk, and once hysterically happy when a campaign won an industry award.
I had never heard her afraid.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then why did you call?”
“Because Daniel lied to me.”
My hand tightened around Ethan’s.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
Ruiz motioned for Ethan to keep the phone steady.
“Start with where you are.”
“No.”
“Vanessa,” Ruiz said, “Dr. Hale is missing, your messages reference him, and Claire has made an allegation involving a planned homicide.”
Vanessa began crying.
Not loudly.
She seemed to be trying not to be heard by someone nearby.
“I didn’t know they were going to kill her.”
The room became absolutely still.
I felt my daughter move beneath my ribs.
Ruiz’s voice sharpened.
“What did you know?”
Vanessa inhaled shakily.
“I knew they wanted her out of the company.”
My throat tightened.
“They?”
“Daniel and Hale.”
“Hale has nothing to do with my company.”
“He does now.”
I stared at the phone.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa made a small choking sound.
Then she said the sentence that made Miriam, still connected through my own phone, whisper something I could not understand.
“Marcus Hale owns part of Halcyon Development.”
For several seconds, the only sound in the delivery room was the fetal monitor.
Ruiz looked at Ethan’s phone as though the device itself had become dangerous.
“Explain that,” she said.
Vanessa’s breathing trembled through the speaker.
“I found the ownership filings two weeks ago.”
“You found them where?”
“In an old investor folder Daniel gave me access to.”
“Why would Daniel have investor records for Halcyon?”
“Because he was helping them.”
My chest tightened.
“With what?”
Vanessa did not answer immediately.
Ruiz stepped closer.
“With what, Vanessa?”
“Getting Claire to sell.”
I shut my eyes.
The Riverfront offer came back to me in pieces.
The letter.
The valuation.
The board meeting where I had refused to entertain it.
Daniel had been unusually quiet that night.
I remembered asking whether he was upset.
He had said he was tired of watching me turn every decision into a war with dead relatives.
At the time, I thought he meant my grandmother.
“What exactly did he do?” Ruiz asked.
Vanessa sniffed.
“He fed them information.”
“What kind?”
“Maintenance costs, tenant disputes, vacancies, lease expirations.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Could he access that?”
“Some of it.”
Vanessa heard me.
“He got more from your email.”
My stomach turned.
“Through you.”
“Yes.”
The answer was barely audible.
“How long?”
“Months.”
I stared at the ceiling.
“You were reading my email for months?”
“I was forwarding things.”
“That is reading my email.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
The words came out flat.
“You sat in my house and ate dinner with me while you were doing it.”
Vanessa started crying harder.
“I know.”
“You touched my stomach.”
“I know.”
“You asked me what names we liked.”
“Claire.”
“Don’t.”
My voice cracked.
“Do not use my name like we are friends.”
A contraction began before she could answer.
I turned my face into the pillow and breathed.
Teresa watched the monitor.
Patel moved closer to the foot of the bed.
The pressure built steadily, lower and heavier than before.
When it passed, I felt exhausted in a way that frightened me.
Patel checked the tracing.
“We’re moving in the wrong direction.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your contractions are continuing, and the baby is showing intermittent decelerations.”
“Do I need a C-section?”
“Not yet.”
The word yet sat between us.
Vanessa’s voice came faintly from Ethan’s phone.
“Is the baby okay?”
I looked at the speaker.
Something inside me hardened.
“You don’t get to ask that.”
She went silent.
Ruiz took over.
“Vanessa, keep talking about Halcyon.”
“I can’t.”
“You called us.”
“I called Claire.”
“And now I’m here.”
“I didn’t know police would be in the room.”
Ruiz’s expression did not change.
“You knew somebody was planning to kill a pregnant woman and expected privacy?”
“That’s not what I knew.”
“What did you know?”
Vanessa inhaled shakily.
“I knew Daniel wanted control of the voting shares.”
“For what purpose?”
“To approve the sale.”
“The Halcyon sale?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Miriam’s phone connection.
“Miriam.”
“I’m here.”
“Could he do that?”
“Not alone.”
“But?”
“But with replacement directors and sufficient voting leverage, he could create a path.”
“How fast?”
“Days for emergency board changes, longer for an actual transaction, depending on objections.”
Vanessa whispered, “They had the directors.”
Miriam went quiet.
Ruiz said, “Who?”
“Two of them.”
My skin went cold.
“Names.”
“No.”
“Vanessa.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“If I say their names, I’m done.”
Ethan gave a bitter laugh.
“You think you’re not already done?”
I squeezed his wrist.
“Stop.”
He looked at me.
“She helped them.”
“I know.”
“She helped Daniel.”
“I know.”
“And now she’s deciding how much honesty she can afford.”
Vanessa made a sound on the phone.
Ethan heard it.
“Good.”
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“Not helping.”
He turned away.
The ordinary pettiness of the argument nearly made me cry.
I wanted my brother to be angry for me.
I also wanted everyone to stop being angry long enough for my daughter to be born safely.
Human beings never seemed to feel the useful thing at the useful time.
Ruiz asked again.
“Which directors?”
Vanessa finally answered.
“Martin Crane and Joel Whitaker.”
Miriam swore softly.
That frightened me more than anything Vanessa had said.
Martin had been on the board since my grandmother was alive.
Joel had joined four years ago after selling his logistics company.
I had trusted both of them.
“Proof?” Ruiz asked.
“I saw messages.”
“Where?”
“Daniel’s laptop.”
“Do you have copies?”
“Yes.”
That changed the room.
May you like
Ruiz’s posture sharpened.
“Where are they?”
