Chương 9
One read:
I am not approving another transfer until the Northbridge balance is fully reconciled and the board is informed.
Margaret replied:
We can discuss this as a family before you create panic.
Claire:
That is the problem. We keep discussing foundation obligations as a family.
Daniel read that exchange three times.
He could hear Claire saying it.
Another email was worse.
Ethan:
If you tell the board now they freeze everything and the housing deal dies. I need sixty days.
Claire:
You needed thirty six months ago.
Ethan:
I’m fixing it.
Claire:
You keep calling the next transfer a fix for the last transfer.
Daniel stopped reading.
That sentence belonged in their kitchen, too.
Claire had once said something similar about a leaking faucet he kept tightening instead of replacing.
He shut the laptop.
Marla watched him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
Nobody tried to improve the answer.
A week into the review, Ethan asked Daniel to meet without Margaret.
They chose a diner near the foundation office because Ethan said he did not want to talk anywhere his mother could arrive.
Daniel almost pointed out how childish that sounded.
Then he remembered Ethan was twenty-seven and had spent most of his adult life working for a family institution controlled first by his father and then his mother.
Maybe childishness was part of the architecture.
Ethan ordered coffee and did not drink it.
Daniel ordered eggs and ate half.
For several minutes they discussed nothing.
A waitress refilled the sugar container at the next table.
A man at the counter complained about parking.
Ethan folded the paper sleeve from his straw into smaller and smaller rectangles.
Finally he said, “Did Claire tell you we fought the night she died?”
Daniel’s fork stopped.
“No.”
Ethan looked down.
“We did.”
“Where?”
“Foundation office.”
“What time?”
“Around six.”
“About what?”
“The audit.”
Daniel put the fork down.
“Police asked when you last saw her.”
“I said five thirty.”
“Why?”
Ethan swallowed.
“Because Mom told me to.”
Daniel sat back.
The diner noise seemed to recede without actually becoming quieter.
“Why would half an hour matter?”
“It probably doesn’t.”
“Then why lie?”
“Because Claire left angry.”
Daniel stared.
Ethan pressed both hands around the coffee cup.
“She came into my office with copies of the Northbridge invoices. She told me she had an appointment with outside counsel the next morning.”
“Thursday.”
“Yeah.”
“She was going to report it.”
“Yes.”
“And you tried to stop her.”
“I tried to talk to her.”
“What does that mean?”
“I said if she went outside the family, there was no coming back.”
Daniel felt heat rise behind his face.
“You threatened her?”
“No.”
“That sounds like one.”
“I meant the foundation would be investigated. People would lose jobs. Grants could freeze. Mom could be charged. I could be charged. Claire could be charged.”
“You made sure she heard all of that.”
“Yeah.”
“What else?”
Ethan’s hands tightened.
“I told her Dad would be ashamed.”
Daniel looked at him.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“What did she say?”
“She slapped me.”
Daniel had not expected that.
Despite everything, a fragment of Claire appeared so clearly in his head that he almost smiled.
She hated physical aggression.
She also had a temper she denied possessing.
Ethan touched his left cheek unconsciously.
“Hard?”
“Pretty hard.”
“What happened after?”
“She started crying.”
The smile disappeared.
“I’d never seen Claire cry at work. She went into the conference room and shut the door. I stood outside like an idiot for ten minutes.”
“Then?”
“She came out and said, ‘I’m still going tomorrow.’”
Daniel looked toward the window.
Cars moved through the parking lot.
“What time did she leave?”
“Six forty, maybe.”
“The crash was at seven eighteen.”
“I know.”
“Did you follow her?”
“No.”
“Call her?”
Ethan hesitated.
Daniel’s stomach turned.
“How many times?”
“Four.”
“Did she answer?”
“Once.”
“What did you say?”
“I apologized.”
“Anything else?”
“I asked her to pull over so we could talk.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“What did she say?”
Ethan looked directly at him.
“She said, ‘For once, Ethan, let me get away from you.’”
Daniel felt something open behind his ribs.
He did not move.
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“I hear that every night.”
“You lied to police.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You let me stand at her grave believing nobody saw her after work.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
Ethan flinched.
For one second Daniel wanted to hit him.
The desire was physical and uncomplicated.
He placed cash beside his plate instead.
Ethan said, “Daniel.”
Daniel leaned down.
“If you change one more fact because your mother tells you to, I will make sure every lawyer in that investigation knows before you finish the sentence.”
“I’m trying to tell you now.”
“Too late to call that courage.”
Ethan looked away.
Daniel left.
He made it halfway to his car before his hands began shaking.
At home, he called the investigating officer assigned to Claire’s collision.
He disclosed Ethan’s statement.
Then Hannah.
Then Marla.
He did not call Margaret.
She called him.
Ethan had apparently reached her first.
“You frightened him.”
Daniel stood in Claire’s office.
“He lied about the last time he saw her.”
“He is grieving.”
“So am I. I haven’t changed timestamps.”
“You think I don’t regret that?”
“You told him to lie.”
“I told him not to make himself look responsible for something he did not cause.”
“You don’t know what caused it.”
“Neither do you.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Did you speak to Claire that night?”
Margaret went silent.
He closed his eyes.
“Margaret.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After Ethan.”
“Phone?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Try again.”
“She told me about the counsel meeting.”
“And?”
“I asked her not to go.”
“Asked.”
“Daniel.”
“What else?”
Margaret’s voice grew brittle.
“I said she was punishing all of us because she couldn’t forgive herself.”
Daniel looked at Claire’s notebook.
May you like
“What did she say?”
“She said maybe I should try forgiving myself without using other people’s money.”
