Chương 3
Sometimes it merely made cruelty convenient.
“I’m sorry,” Claire said.
Emily exhaled through her nose. “Don’t say it like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re trying not to spill something.”
Claire almost smiled. Emily had inherited Jonathan’s talent for describing a person’s flaw in one sentence and then appearing surprised when it hurt.
“I don’t know another way yet,” Claire said.
That answer softened something. Emily looked down at her hands.
In the back seat, Sophie watched streetlights slide over the birdhouse roof.
When they reached Claire’s home in Brookline, Sophie carried the birdhouse directly upstairs. Emily left the wrapped gifts on the kitchen island and removed her coat without hanging it. The house smelled faintly of cinnamon from a candle Claire had lit before they left.
She extinguished it.
No one wanted the house to smell festive.
Emily opened the refrigerator, stared inside, and closed it again.
“Are you hungry?” Claire asked.
“No.”
“You barely ate lunch.”
“How do you know?”
“You sent me a picture of coffee and half a bagel.”
“I sent that to Sophie.”
“You copied me.”
Emily leaned against the counter. “You notice food when you don’t want to discuss something else.”
Claire put the gifts beside the pantry. “You notice when I do that.”
“Yes.”
“Then I should probably stop.”
“That would be unsettling.”
The small dry humor was so familiar that Claire felt grief rise without warning. Jonathan would have looked between them and said they had finally achieved emotional honesty through a bagel.
Her phone rang again.
This time it was Martin Hale, the director of the family office.
Claire answered.
“Martin.”
“Claire, I apologize for calling this late.”
“It isn’t late.”
“It’s nearly ten.”
She looked at the dark kitchen window. “What happened?”
“There have been several attempts to use cards attached to the restricted account.”
“I know about one.”
A pause.
“Was that at Bellamy House?”
“Yes.”
“I see.”
Martin’s professional neutrality was less convincing than the waiter’s had been.
“What else?” Claire asked.
“A card was declined at the parking garage beneath the restaurant. Another at a pharmacy in Cambridge. Two automated payments are scheduled overnight.”
“Whose pharmacy charge?”
“I can’t see the purchaser’s name from the alert.”
“Amount?”
“Eighty-six dollars and forty-two cents.”
Claire closed her eyes.
This was what she had failed to consider when she told the bank to freeze everything. She had imagined large transfers, Evelyn’s card, foundation payments hidden behind vague descriptions. She had not pictured an older relative standing under fluorescent pharmacy lights with a declined card.
“Can we release individual charges?”
“Not until the bank’s review team reopens in the morning. We can remove the full restriction, but I strongly advise against that until we understand the authorizations.”
“What are the overnight payments?”
“Household payroll for Richard and Evelyn’s staff, and an insurance premium for the Maine property.”
Emily straightened.
“Can payroll be moved to another account?” Claire asked.
“Not tonight without access to the operating instructions. I can call the bank’s emergency division, but the hold was placed because of suspected unauthorized activity. They may refuse changes until verification.”
“Call them.”
“I already have.”
Of course he had. Martin was thorough to the point of irritation, one reason Jonathan trusted him.
“Who used the pharmacy card?”
“I’ll find out.”
“Do not tell them why it failed.”
“Claire—”
“Tell them there was a technical issue and reimburse them from another account.”
“I can do that personally and expense it later.”
“Thank you.”
Martin hesitated. “Richard has called me four times.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“Once.”
“What did you say?”
“That the account holder requested a temporary restriction after irregular approvals were discovered.”
“Did he ask who the account holder was?”
“He knows.”
Claire looked toward the ceiling, where Sophie’s footsteps crossed the room above them.
“Does Evelyn?”
“She does now.”
A cabinet door clicked as Emily reached for a glass.
“Martin,” Claire said, “how much of tomorrow’s foundation event depends on this account?”
The silence was answer enough.
“Tell me.”
“Vendor balances total approximately one hundred and forty thousand. Most were due last week. They were delayed.”
“By whom?”
“The foundation office said they were waiting for pledged funds to clear.”
“Did they clear?”
“No.”
“And the account was going to cover the difference.”
“That appears to have been the plan.”
“Approved by whom?”
“I’m still reviewing it.”
Claire pressed her fingertips to the edge of the counter. The Cross Winter Benefit had been Evelyn’s signature event for twenty-three years. Six hundred guests were expected at the museum the next evening. Money raised supported housing programs and a children’s clinic. Canceling it would not only embarrass Evelyn. It would cost vendors, staff, and organizations that had already built budgets around promised grants.
“Call me as soon as you know more,” Claire said.
“I will.”
She ended the call.
Emily filled her glass but did not drink. “What happens tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is the benefit canceled?”
“Not yet.”
“Were those transfers for the benefit?”
“Some may have been.”
“You said they were personal.”
“I said some were personal.”
“How personal?”
Claire removed her earrings and set them near the sink. Small gold hoops Jonathan had given her on their tenth anniversary. She wore them because they required no decision in the morning.
“There were payments to a decorator, a luxury travel service, a jeweler, and a private club,” she said.
“The dinner?”
“Possibly.”
Emily gave a disbelieving laugh. “She invited half the family to tell us we weren’t invited, and you paid for it.”
“Indirectly.”
“That’s somehow worse.”
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Sophie entered wearing sweatpants and one of Jonathan’s old college shirts. Her eyes were dry now. She had left the birdhouse upstairs.
“Who used a card at a pharmacy?” she asked.
Claire looked at Emily.
“The call was on speaker for a second,” Emily said. “Accidentally.”
“It wasn’t on speaker,” Sophie said. “This house is quiet.”
May you like
Claire poured water into the kettle. “Martin is checking.”
“Was it Aunt Margaret?”
