Chương 10
Cole asked, “Daniel, did your mother leave the study before you?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Claire's head snapped up.
“What?”
Daniel continued.
“She walked out ahead of me.”
“When?”
“Maybe ten twenty-eight. Ten twenty-nine.”
“And I stayed?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“You told us both to get out.”
Claire's mouth went dry.
“Why would I do that?”
“You were making copies.”
“Of what?”
“Evelyn's letter. The maintenance report. Something else from the safe.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“What was in the safe?”
Daniel's voice changed.
“I honestly don't know.”
Claire looked at Cole.
He was writing.
“Was the door locked when you left?” she asked.
“No.”
“Did you close it?”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the study door closes automatically.”
Claire pictured it.
Heavy wood.
Electronic latch.
Soft mechanical pull.
A door that closed itself.
“Then anyone outside could have locked it.”
“Yes.”
“Your card was still inside.”
Silence.
Daniel said, “I must have dropped it.”
“In the room.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you use it to leave?”
“No. You don't need it to leave.”
Claire looked at Cole.
“Then why was it near the desk?”
Cole's eyes narrowed.
He had not told her where it was found.
Neither had Daniel.
Claire felt the blood drain from her face.
“Daniel.”
Nothing.
“Where was the card found?”
Daniel did not answer.
Cole stood.
“Daniel, where are you right now?”
The call ended.
For one second nobody moved.
Then Cole swore.
Alvarez was already on her phone.
Claire stared at the dead screen.
“He knew.”
Cole grabbed his jacket.
“He knew where the card was.”
“Maybe you told his lawyer.”
“I didn't.”
“Maybe the article—”
“Didn't say.”
Maya took Claire's phone from her hand before she dropped it.
Cole headed toward the door.
Claire followed.
“No.”
He turned.
“You stay here.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Claire.”
“Where is he?”
“We're finding out.”
“He called me.”
“And now we're finding him.”
“I am coming.”
“No.”
Claire stepped closer.
Pain radiated through her shoulder, but anger held her upright.
“You have spent eleven days telling me what I don't know. I finally know one thing. My husband just revealed he knows evidence you never disclosed.”
“Which makes him a person I need to question, not somebody you need to chase.”
“I'm not chasing him.”
“Yes, you are.”
He was right.
Claire hated him for it.
Cole's voice softened.
“You influence this investigation by telling the truth. Not by putting yourself in the middle of every dangerous unknown.”
Claire looked toward the front window.
A dark sedan had stopped across the street.
Margaret stepped out.
Nobody spoke.
Margaret crossed toward the house.
Maya muttered, “You have got to be kidding me.”
Claire stared.
“Let her in.”
Cole looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel said she gave me the files.”
Margaret reached the porch.
The bell rang.
Claire felt strangely calm.
“Let her in.”
Maya opened the door.
Margaret entered carrying a leather handbag and wearing sunglasses despite being indoors.
She saw Cole.
Stopped.
Then removed the glasses.
“I was told Claire was here.”
Cole said, “By whom?”
“My driver followed Dr. Reed's vehicle.”
Maya stared at her.
“That's deeply creepy.”
Margaret ignored her.
She looked at Claire.
“I need to speak with you.”
Claire gestured toward the kitchen.
“Then speak.”
Margaret looked at Cole and Alvarez.
“Privately.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No more private conversations.”
Margaret's shoulders dropped almost imperceptibly.
She entered the kitchen.
Claire remained standing across the table.
“Did you give me Evelyn's files?”
Margaret's face changed.
“Yes.”
The answer came so quickly that everyone paused.
Claire had expected another lie.
“Why?”
Margaret placed her handbag on the chair.
“Because I was tired.”
Claire waited.
Margaret looked around Maya's kitchen as though surprised by the existence of ordinary countertops.
“My husband died eighteen months ago.”
Thomas Bennett had died of a heart attack during a skiing trip in Switzerland. Claire remembered Margaret organizing the funeral with the efficiency of a corporate merger.
“Afterward,” Margaret continued, “I began going through his papers. Not because I suspected anything. Because I couldn't stand seeing his things untouched.”
She touched the edge of the chair.
“I found copies Evelyn had made.”
“Where?”
“In a storage box labeled tax records.”
“And you gave them to me.”
“Eventually.”
“Why me?”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“Because Daniel would have burned them.”
Claire went cold.
Margaret saw it.
“Not literally.”
“Poor choice of words.”
“Yes.”
Cole said, “Mrs. Bennett, why did you lie about entering the study?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Because I knew what you would assume.”
“Did you lock the door?”
“No.”
“Did you damage the interior release mechanism?”
“No.”
“Did you start the fire?”
“No.”
“Did you remove anything from the safe?”
“Yes.”
Claire stared.
Cole's voice sharpened.
“What?”
“A ledger.”
“What ledger?”
Margaret's eyes moved toward Claire.
“The original Asterion maintenance log.”
Alvarez stood.
“Where is it?”
Margaret said nothing.
Cole stepped closer.
“Mrs. Bennett.”
“I destroyed it.”
Claire felt nausea rise.
“When?”
“The night of the fire.”
Maya whispered, “Jesus.”
Margaret raised her chin.
“I panicked.”
Claire laughed once.
“Apparently that's contagious in your family.”
Margaret flinched.
It was small, but Claire saw it.
“You gave me the evidence,” Claire said. “Then you destroyed the most important part?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you said you were going public.”
“So?”
“So the log would not only have implicated Thomas. It would have implicated Evelyn.”
Claire frowned.
“How?”
Margaret looked toward the window.
“Evelyn altered a maintenance entry.”
Alvarez said, “Explain.”
“She changed a classification code after the fire.”
“Why?”
“To make the original fault look more severe.”
Claire stared.
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why alter anything?”
“Because she wanted proof that couldn't be dismissed.”
Margaret's voice became bitter.
“She was twenty-one. Furious. Certain that being morally correct entitled her to be careless.”
Claire thought of the handwritten letter.
Somebody has to tell—
“What did Thomas do?”
“He found out she had copied records.”
“And?”
“They fought.”
“Did he kill her?”
Margaret's face crumpled so briefly Claire almost missed it.
May you like
“No.”
“How do you know?”
