Chương 14
“I won’t.”
“Do not delete it.”
“Okay.”
“I’m sending an outside forensic consultant to collect a copy from your device.”
Eve stared at the laptop.
“Someone’s coming here?”
“Yes.”
“Today?”
“Yes.”
“Do I need my own lawyer?”
Elena stopped.
The silence after that question was different from every silence before it.
More careful.
“You’re entitled to consult one.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
Eve’s mouth went dry.
“Elena.”
“If you knew the file contained client information and intentionally received it outside approved channels, that would be a problem.”
“I didn’t.”
“I understand that’s what you’re telling me.”
The phrasing hurt.
“What are you telling me?”
“I’m telling you to preserve everything and answer truthfully.”
Eve looked at her notes.
“This is becoming about me.”
“It is becoming about everyone who touched the information.”
“I didn’t touch the spreadsheet.”
“That distinction matters.”
“Does it matter enough?”
“I can’t answer that yet.”
The room suddenly felt too warm.
Eve opened the window an inch and cold air rushed in.
Elena said, “Did Martin Hale ever tell you to communicate with property employees outside official channels?”
“No.”
“Did Dennis?”
“No.”
“Cole?”
“I’ve never spoken to him directly.”
“Did Adrian?”
Eve’s hand stopped on the window latch.
“No.”
The question landed harder than the others.
Elena continued.
“Has Adrian Sterling contacted you outside professional channels since the airport?”
Eve’s throat tightened.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He sent food to my hotel.”
Elena was silent.
“And we had coffee today.”
Another silence.
Eve said, “It was accidental.”
“You happened to meet?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A café near the hotel.”
“Did you discuss the review?”
“No.”
“Did he discuss Rachel Sterling?”
Eve blinked.
“Rachel Sterling?”
“His former wife retained his surname professionally.”
Eve looked toward the door as if Adrian might be standing there.
“He told me she used to run Dennis Vale’s division.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you Cole Bennett had disappeared before that became generally known?”
Eve’s stomach dropped.
“Yes.”
Elena exhaled softly.
“Okay.”
“That sounds bad.”
“It sounds like something I need to document.”
“He wasn’t giving me inside information.”
“Elena did not answer immediately.
“Eve, I need you to understand something.”
The lawyer’s voice had lost its earlier distance.
“Adrian is my client in his capacity as chief executive, but he is also part of the fact pattern now.”
Eve sat down slowly.
“Because of Rachel?”
“Because of several things.”
“What things?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then why tell me that much?”
“Because you need to stop speaking with him about anything connected to this review.”
Eve stared at the floor.
A thin stripe of melted snow darkened the toe of one boot near the door.
“Fine.”
“And if he contacts you?”
“I tell him that.”
“Yes.”
The call ended.
Eve sat without moving.
Her phone buzzed almost immediately.
Adrian.
She closed her eyes.
The message contained only five words.
Can I call you tonight?
Eve stared at it.
Then she typed, No.
She hesitated.
Added, Please don’t contact me about the investigation.
Three dots appeared.
Then vanished.
A minute passed.
His reply came.
Understood.
Nothing else.
The restraint should have relieved her.
Instead, Eve felt strangely abandoned.
She threw the phone onto the bed.
“That is insane,” she told the empty room.
At three fifteen, two forensic consultants arrived with Elena.
They photographed the laptop screen, documented the email, created a forensic copy of the message and attachment without opening it through Eve’s account, and asked Eve to repeat exactly how she had discovered it.
Elena stood near the window taking notes.
The process was slow.
Boring.
Precise.
Nothing like television.
At four twenty, one consultant looked up from his machine.
“We have the file.”
Elena asked, “Hash verified?”
“Yes.”
Eve understood only enough to know they had preserved an exact copy.
The consultant turned his laptop toward Elena.
“We also have metadata.”
Elena moved closer.
Her face changed.
“What?”
The consultant pointed.
“This file wasn’t created Tuesday.”
Eve’s pulse shifted.
“When?”
He scrolled.
“Original creation date is six months ago.”
Elena leaned in.
The consultant continued.
“And there are forty-three prior versions in the embedded workbook history.”
Eve looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Elena did not answer.
The consultant clicked again.
Then he stopped.
“Interesting.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“What?”
He pointed at another field.
“The author account on the earliest version isn’t Maya Torres.”
Eve’s mouth went dry.
“Whose is it?”
The consultant looked up.
“Rachel Sterling.”
For several seconds, nobody in the hotel room spoke.
Eve looked at Elena.
Elena looked at the consultant.
The consultant looked as though he wished he had chosen a profession involving fewer rich people.
“Are you sure?” Elena asked.
“The workbook history is embedded.”
He turned the laptop slightly.
“The earliest version was created under Rachel Sterling’s corporate account.”
Elena’s face became unreadable.
“When was she employed by Sterling?”
“Six months ago?”
The consultant checked the metadata.
“This file was created four days before her separation date.”
Eve felt the pieces rearranging.
Rachel had left the company.
Dennis had inherited part of her division.
Cole reported into the same operational chain.
Maya had been frightened enough to send the file outside the system.
None of it proved what Rachel had done.
But it changed the direction of every question.
Elena took out her phone.
“Excuse me.”
She walked into the hallway and closed the door.
The consultant returned to his work.
Eve sat on the edge of the bed.
“Am I allowed to ask what’s in the spreadsheet?”
The consultant did not look up.
“I’m allowed to say you should ask counsel.”
“That sounds like a no.”
“It’s an experienced no.”
Eve folded her hands between her knees.
“You do this often?”
“More often than people think.”
“Do people usually look guilty?”
He glanced at her.
“Everyone looks guilty when someone is imaging their laptop.”
That was not reassuring.
Elena returned ten minutes later.
“We’re done here for now.”
Eve stood.
“That’s it?”
“For you.”
May you like
The wording mattered.
Eve heard it.
