Chương 4
“I didn’t say he took it from your apartment.”
“Where else would he get it?”
Noah’s voice softened despite himself.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to understand.”
She finally opened the box.
Inside lay a diamond ring that, at first glance, looked nearly identical to the one on her finger.
The difference was visible only if you knew where to look.
She did.
Madison sat down.
Noah looked away.
Evelyn stayed standing.
Madison removed the ring she was wearing and placed both on the dark velvet. Side by side, the truth became obvious.
The replacement was expensive.
The original was personal.
She touched the tiny nick in the old band with her thumbnail.
“My dad had this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
“He wouldn’t steal my engagement ring.”
No one replied.
Madison looked at Evelyn.
“You think this has something to do with the money.”
“I think many things may have something to do with the money.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
Madison’s face tightened.
“Could everybody stop doing that?”
Evelyn’s eyebrows lifted.
“Doing what?”
“Talking to me like I’m one subpoena away from becoming dangerous.”
Noah sat across from her.
“You’re not dangerous.”
“Then tell me what’s happening.”
He looked at Evelyn.
She looked back.
For once, they disagreed silently and visibly.
Madison saw that too.
“Noah.”
He rubbed his thumb against his finger again.
“There were documents in Richard’s office,” he said. “Copies of internal approvals. Vendor summaries. Some were routine. Some weren’t. The ring was in the same locked drawer.”
“Why would my ring be with company documents?”
“We don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Was my badge used the nights those documents were accessed?”
Noah hesitated.
Evelyn answered.
“Some of them.”
Madison stood abruptly.
The chair rolled backward and struck another chair.
She flinched at the noise.
“No.”
Noah rose too.
She pointed at him.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“I did not come here at night. I did not take documents. I did not give my father my badge.”
“I believe you.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you end the engagement?”
His expression changed.
That question was not about the investigation anymore.
Evelyn looked toward the windows.
Noah lowered his voice.
“Because when I asked you whether your father had ever asked you to sign anything for him, you lied.”
Madison’s face went still.
There it was.
A small fact.
Not dramatic enough for the room they were in.
But real.
Evelyn turned back.
Madison said, “I didn’t lie.”
“You said no.”
“He’s my father. I’ve signed birthday cards for him.”
“You know what I meant.”
“No, I knew what you were trying to imply.”
“I asked whether he had ever asked you to sign corporate or financial documents.”
“And he hadn’t.”
Noah held her gaze.
“What about Hale Advisory Holdings?”
Madison’s lips parted.
Evelyn saw recognition.
Noah saw it too.
Madison looked down.
“That was nothing.”
“What was it?”
“A company.”
“Yes.”
“My company.”
“Why did you have one?”
“Tax reasons.”
Noah gave a humorless exhale.
“What tax reasons?”
“I don’t know.”
“Madison.”
“My dad’s accountant set it up.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“How many?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Before or after you worked here?”
She rubbed her forehead.
“I don’t know. Before. Maybe during.”
“What did it do?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did it receive six hundred and forty thousand dollars?”
Madison stopped breathing for a second.
Evelyn watched the realization happen.
“No.”
Noah did not move.
“No,” Madison said again. “That is not possible.”
“The company received payments.”
“I never received six hundred thousand dollars.”
“Did you have access to its bank account?”
“I didn’t even know it had a bank account.”
Evelyn finally sat.
“Who prepared your tax returns?”
“My father’s accountant.”
“Name?”
Madison stared at her.
“Gerald Voss.”
Evelyn’s eyes flicked briefly toward Noah.
Madison noticed.
“What?”
Noah said, “Voss is connected to one of the vendors.”
She sat again.
This time, she did not lower herself carefully.
She simply dropped into the chair.
For several seconds, none of them spoke.
Madison looked at the two rings.
“My father told me Hale Advisory was for consulting work if I ever wanted to leave communications.”
Noah asked, “Did you sign formation documents?”
“Probably.”
“Bank documents?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tax forms?”
“I sign tax forms every year.”
“Did you read them?”
She gave him a sharp look.
“Do you read every line of yours?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you do.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“No, it’s exactly the point. You have always been the person who reads the second page of a parking receipt.”
“I don’t think parking receipts have second pages.”
“See?”
Despite everything, the corner of Noah’s mouth moved.
It disappeared immediately.
Madison looked at him and, for one painful instant, looked like she might smile too.
Then she remembered where they were.
“I didn’t steal from your company.”
Evelyn said, “I haven’t accused you of stealing.”
“My name is on a company that received money from it.”
“Yes.”
“My badge was used at night.”
“Yes.”
“My engagement ring was in my father’s locked drawer with documents.”
“Yes.”
Madison looked at her.
“What would you call that?”
“Evidence requiring explanation.”
Madison laughed once.
“You would have been terrifying as a mother.”
Noah said, “She was.”
Evelyn looked at him.
He shrugged faintly.
The sound Madison made this time really was a laugh, brief and wrong for the moment. It broke in the middle.
Then she covered her mouth.
Her eyes filled.
She hated that.
She stood and turned away before either of them could watch.
The city was still bright outside.
There was a smudge on one of the window panels at shoulder height where someone had probably leaned while talking on the phone. Madison focused on it.
“Did you know?” she asked.
Noah did not pretend not to understand.
“About the company payments? Not when I ended things.”
“When did you know?”
“Four days ago.”
“And the ring?”
“A week ago.”
She nodded.
May you like
“So why end it three weeks ago?”
Noah took a moment.
