Part 4
“Did the police arrest her?” she asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“They took statements. A detective will review what happened.”
“She pushed me in front of witnesses.”
“Yes.”
“She could have hurt the baby.”
“Yes.”
The calm agreement made her angrier.
“Do you think she should be arrested?”
“I think the police should follow evidence and procedure.”
“That sounded rehearsed.”
“It was.”
Clara turned toward the window. The glass reflected the bed, the monitor cables, and the plastic bag containing the dress Vivian had complimented that morning.
“You knew my father transferred something,” she said.
Elias set the coffee down.
“Two years ago, he asked me whether a voting share could be transferred during his lifetime without passing through probate.”
“And?”
“I told him to speak with corporate counsel and his estate lawyer.”
“You didn’t ask why?”
“I did. He told me it was none of my business.”
“That stopped you?”
“Your father was persuasive when avoiding questions.”
“He was rude.”
“That too.”
Clara watched the fetal tracing move across the monitor.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did not know he completed the transfer.”
“You knew he was considering it.”
“Yes.”
“And when Vivian began appointing trustees?”
“She produced a written consent stating she was authorized to exercise the estate’s governance rights.”
“Did the bank executor sign it?”
“No.”
“Then why did you accept it?”
Elias looked at the cold coffee.
“Because your father had allowed Vivian to exercise the rights during his illness. Because she controlled the corporate records. Because the lawyers did not object. Because the board needed appointments made and everyone preferred a functioning assumption to an unanswered question.”
“That is a long way of saying no one checked.”
“Yes.”
Clara’s throat tightened.
A contraction crossed her abdomen.
It was stronger than the one in the ambulance. She gripped the sheet and stopped breathing.
Elias stood.
The nurse returned before he reached the call button. She watched the monitor, asked whether the pressure was increasing, then placed a hand lightly against Clara’s abdomen.
The contraction passed.
“That can happen after a fall,” the nurse said. “We’ll keep watching.”
Clara nodded without trusting herself to speak.
When they were alone again, Elias remained standing.
“You should go back to the foundation,” she said.
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Helen is coming.”
“How do you know?”
“She texted.”
Clara’s phone rested on the side table, vibrating every few seconds.
Elias turned it face down.
“I need you to make sure the ledger doesn’t disappear,” she said.
“Security sealed the atrium.”
“Vivian has run that building for twenty years.”
“Two police officers are present.”
“She has known half the police commissioners in the city.”
“That is not how evidence custody works.”
“You sound very certain for a man who accepted an unsigned assumption for eight months.”
He flinched.
Clara regretted the cruelty and did not apologize.
Elias sat again.
“I will return as soon as Helen arrives,” he said. “The documents will be photographed in place, inventoried, and secured with witnesses. No one from the family or the law firm will handle them alone.”
“And Martin’s case?”
“The police asked him to leave it until counsel arrives.”
“What do you think is inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t true.”
“I think it may contain documents Vivian planned to present at the emergency board meeting.”
“What meeting?”
Elias went still.
Clara turned her head.
“What emergency board meeting?”
“It had not been announced.”
“To whom?”
“To you.”
“What was it about?”
“The refinancing of Archives Holdings.”
Clara looked at the monitor, then back at him.
“I own it.”
“If the certificate is valid.”
“What refinancing?”
“A proposed restructuring of foundation debt.”
“Using the buildings as collateral?”
Elias said nothing.
The answer sat in his face.
Clara felt suddenly cold.
“Vivian pushed me for a ledger because she needed my property.”
“We do not know that yet.”
“She didn’t know I owned it.”
“She may have known and believed another document changed the ownership.”
“What other document?”
“I don’t know.”
The door opened.
Helen entered carrying Clara’s purse and a black cardigan. Without her usual jewelry and committee-room posture, she looked older than Clara remembered.
She stopped beside the bed.
“How are you?”
“Everyone asks that as if there is an answer.”
Helen nodded. “Fair.”
She placed the cardigan on a chair and smoothed one sleeve.
“I gave a statement,” she said.
Clara waited.
“I told the officer Vivian had hold of both your arms and pushed you with one hand.”
“Thank you.”
“It was not a favor.”
“I can still thank you.”
Helen adjusted the cardigan again. “Reuben says he did not see the push.”
“He was facing us.”
“He says he looked away.”
“Why?”
“He has not invented that part yet.”
Despite herself, Clara let out a short laugh. It pulled at her bruised hip and ended with a sharp breath.
Helen looked toward the monitor.
“The baby?”
“Still being monitored.”
Helen’s face softened for less than a second. “Your mother would have hated this room.”
Clara blinked. “Why?”
“She disliked beige.”
It was such an ordinary answer that Clara nearly cried.
Elias stood.
“I’m going back to secure the records.”
Helen glanced at him. “Vivian called me.”
“What did she say?” Clara asked.
“That the family had endured enough public humiliation.”
Clara stared at her.
“She also asked me to remember that you had been emotionally distressed before the luncheon.”
“I was upset.”
“That was not what she was asking.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her never to contact me about my memory again.”
Elias picked up his coat.
“Helen, stay with her.”
“I was planning to.”
“I’ll call as soon as the inventory is complete.”
Clara caught his sleeve before he left.
“Do not let the board issue a statement about my condition.”
“They will want to acknowledge the incident.”
“They can acknowledge it without using my pregnancy to make everyone sound sympathetic.”
“I understand.”
“And don’t call it a family dispute.”
May you like
“I won’t.”
He looked down at her hand on his sleeve. She released it.
