Chương 5
“Clara June.”
Adrian kissed Elena’s forehead. His lips stayed there a little longer than usual.
Detective Cho interviewed Victoria the same morning.
Victoria arrived with an attorney and wore navy instead of white. She said Elena had become agitated during a private financial discussion. According to Victoria, Elena stepped backward when Victoria tried to calm her. Victoria grabbed Elena’s arm to prevent the fall, but Elena pulled away.
She said she had turned off the security cameras because she had planned to sunbathe and disliked being recorded on her own property.
She denied asking Lucia and Mateo to leave the terrace.
She denied knowing Noah was by the pool.
She denied moving any money improperly.
Her attorney provided a copy of the statement Elena had refused to sign. It described the financial discrepancies as ordinary short-term reallocations made to preserve the overall value of several family trusts.
The original document recovered from the pool table contained two additional pages.
Those pages required Elena to agree that she had acted without Adrian’s knowledge and had improperly accessed confidential records. They also required her to waive any future role in decisions concerning Noah’s trust.
Victoria’s attorney claimed the extra pages were an early draft included by mistake.
Detective Cho told Adrian this in the hospital cafeteria.
He sat across from her with coffee he had not touched. Beyond the glass wall, people moved through the lobby carrying flowers, balloons, overnight bags, and fear.
“What did Lucia say?” he asked.
“She said she saw your mother holding Elena’s arm.”
“And?”
“She looked away when Elena fell.”
“Why?”
“She heard Mr. Silva say something.”
“What did Mateo say?”
“That he was inside the archway and did not see physical contact.”
Adrian stared at the detective. “They’re lying.”
“They may be afraid. They may also have seen less than you assume.”
“They were twelve yards away.”
“Fear affects memory. Loyalty affects memory. Employment affects memory.”
“My mother employs them.”
“Exactly.”
“I can protect them.”
“Then do it without telling them what to say.”
He leaned back. “You think I would?”
“I think you’re angry enough to make mistakes.”
He looked toward the NICU elevators. “My daughter was delivered five weeks early because my mother pushed my wife into a pool.”
“And if we intend to prove that, we cannot build the case on your certainty.”
He rubbed the scrape across his knuckles.
“What about Noah?”
“We have not conducted a formal interview.”
“Why not?”
“Because he is seven, he is distressed, and he has already heard adults discussing what happened.”
“He saw it.”
“He may have. We’ll use a trained child interviewer. Not you, not your mother, and not a patrol officer asking leading questions beside a hospital bed.”
Adrian hated the answer because it made sense.
Detective Cho slid a business card across the table. “Your mother’s lawyer contacted the district attorney’s office before we finished the first round of interviews.”
“Of course he did.”
“She has resources. That doesn’t make her untouchable. It does mean every shortcut will be used against us.”
Adrian picked up the card.
“Do not confront her again,” the detective said.
“I’m not planning to.”
She watched him.
“I’m planning to remove her from every part of our lives.”
“That is a family decision. Threats, public accusations, and attempts to seize records are not.”
He gave her a tired, humorless smile. “You make me sound unstable.”
“You jumped into a pool wearing a three-thousand-dollar suit.”
“My wife was drowning.”
“I’m saying urgency can be rational. It can also make people careless.”
Before leaving, Detective Cho told him the security company had preserved the privacy-mode log. The request had been made through Victoria’s tablet at 1:07. At 1:12, Victoria had sent a message to Lucia instructing her and Mateo to clean silver in the east pantry.
They had never been assigned to clean silver in the afternoon.
“Why didn’t Lucia tell you that?” Adrian asked.
“She deleted the message.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Mr. Silva still had it.”
Adrian looked up.
“Mateo gave you his phone?”
“He showed us the message. He says he forgot it was there.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe he is frightened.”
Adrian found Noah asleep in a chair beside Elena’s bed, one cheek pressed against the armrest. Elena was awake, watching him.
“How is Clara?” she asked.
“Stable. They lowered the oxygen.”
He told her about the interviews.
When he reached the message to Lucia, Elena closed her eyes.
“She sent them away.”
“She tried.”
“Mateo stayed where he could see the pool.”
“He says he didn’t see.”
“He saw.”
“You don’t know that.”
Elena looked at Noah. “Victoria pays his salary. She owns the staff cottages. His wife works for her foundation.”
“I can move them.”
“And then she’ll say you bought their testimony.”
Adrian sat on the edge of the bed.
“What do you want me to do?”
“For the next hour?”
“Yes.”
“Bring me ice.”
He blinked.
“The nurse said I could have ice chips. You’ve been gone forty minutes.”
He stared at her, then gave a quiet laugh that ended too quickly.
“I can do that.”
He returned with two cups and a plastic spoon. Elena ate three chips. The fourth melted before she lifted it.
Noah woke and asked whether Clara still had the tube in her nose. Adrian said yes.
“Does it hurt?”
“We don’t think so.”
“That means you don’t know.”
“No,” Adrian said. “We don’t know.”
Noah nodded, accepting the honesty more easily than reassurance.
He sat upright and rubbed his eyes. “Grandma called Lucia.”
Adrian looked at Elena before answering. “When?”
“Last night. Lucia went into the hall.”
“What did she say?”
“I don’t know. She talks Spanish when she doesn’t want me to know.”
Lucia, who was entering with a paper bag of sandwiches, stopped in the doorway.
“Noah,” she said.
“What?”
“You should not listen to private calls.”
May you like
“I wasn’t. You were loud.”
Lucia set the bag on the counter. Her face had become pale.
