Chương 6
"Maybe."
"Or?"
Daniel looked at the window.
People walked past outside carrying bags, talking on phones, living normal days that had nothing to do with him.
"Or someone inside the company wanted these documents to look real enough that nobody would question them."
Maya lowered her voice.
"Daniel."
"What?"
"If this is true, someone had access to your signature."
He looked back at her.
"Yes."
"And someone knew enough about the company to make this believable."
"Yes."
"And someone wanted you blamed."
Daniel did not answer.
Because that was the part that felt too obvious.
The accusation was not random.
It had been built around him.
Not around money.
Not around the records.
Around his reputation.
When he returned home that evening, Claire was standing in the hallway holding a package that had been delivered to their house.
She looked at him immediately.
"Where were you?"
Daniel noticed the question.
Not the concern.
The question.
"With Maya."
Claire's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
"Your assistant?"
"Former assistant."
"Right."
The way she said it made the word sound like an accusation.
Daniel put his keys on the table.
"What does that mean?"
"It means everyone is talking."
"Everyone who?"
Claire looked down at the package.
"I don't know."
"You just said everyone."
She sighed.
"I heard things."
"From who?"
"Does every answer need to become an interrogation?"
Daniel stared at her.
"Right now, yes."
The sharpness surprised both of them.
Claire stepped back.
For a second, she looked hurt.
Then the hurt disappeared behind something harder.
"That is exactly what I mean."
"What?"
"You are so focused on proving what happened that you don't see what is happening."
Daniel laughed quietly.
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Doesn't it?"
"No."
He pointed toward the kitchen.
"My job is gone."
"Temporarily."
"My reputation is being destroyed."
"Maybe."
The word hit him.
"Maybe?"
Claire closed her eyes.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Then how did you mean it?"
She sat down.
The fight left her body before it left the room.
"I mean I don't know what to believe."
Daniel stood there.
The honest answer hurt more than a lie.
"After eleven years, you don't know?"
Claire looked at him.
"After eleven years, I know you."
"Then you know I didn't do this."
She was quiet.
That silence was enough to make his chest tighten.
A week earlier, that silence would have been impossible.
They had survived things together.
A miscarriage they never talked about after the first year.
His mother's illness.
Claire losing her job during a company shutdown.
The months where they counted every purchase at the grocery store.
They were not strangers.
But strangers did not have years of disappointment sitting between them either.
"What aren't you telling me?" Daniel asked.
Claire looked away.
"Nothing."
He waited.
She rubbed her thumb against the edge of the table.
A habit she had whenever she was deciding whether to say something painful.
"Claire."
"I received a call."
"From who?"
"I don't know."
Daniel's face changed.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"They didn't give a name."
"When?"
"Two days ago."
Before the investigation.
Before the office meeting.
Daniel sat down slowly.
"What did they say?"
Claire's eyes filled with frustration.
"I don't want to repeat it."
"Why?"
"Because it sounded insane."
"Try me."
She looked toward the dark kitchen window.
"They said if you cared about our family, you would stop looking into things that were better left alone."
The room became silent.
Daniel felt the anger arrive first.
Then fear.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Claire did not answer.
"Why?"
"Because I thought it was a threat."
"It was a threat."
"I know."
"Then why hide it?"
Her voice broke slightly.
"Because every time something terrible happens, you run toward it."
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
"You did it with your father," she continued.
"You did it when the company cut jobs."
"You did it when your brother got into trouble."
"You always believe if you find the truth fast enough, the damage will stop."
She looked at him.
"Sometimes it just puts you closer to the person causing it."
Daniel looked down at his hands.
The words bothered him because they were unfair.
They also bothered him because they were not completely wrong.
A notification appeared on his phone.
Unknown number.
One message.
He opened it.
The words were simple.
Stop asking questions.
Underneath the message was a photograph.
Daniel felt the blood leave his face.
It was a picture of the document Maya had brought him.
Taken from above.
Taken inside the coffee shop.
Taken minutes earlier.
Daniel stared at the photograph until his fingers went cold around the phone.
The image was not blurry.
It was not some distant shot taken from across the street.
Whoever had taken it had been close enough to see the papers on the table, close enough to capture Maya's hand resting beside the folder.
Close enough to know exactly what they were looking at.
Claire stood up.
"What is it?"
Daniel did not answer immediately.
The silence made her walk closer.
"Daniel."
He turned the phone toward her.
Her face changed before she said anything.
Not shock.
Recognition.
A small, almost invisible reaction.
But he saw it.
"You know something," he said.
Claire looked away.
"No."
"Claire."
"I don't know who sent it."
"That isn't what I asked."
She pressed her lips together.
The house was quiet except for the refrigerator humming in the kitchen.
A neighbor's dog barked somewhere outside.
Normal sounds.
That was what made everything feel worse.
The world kept moving while theirs had become something fragile and unfamiliar.
"I have seen that picture before," Claire said.
Daniel felt the room tighten.
"Where?"
She walked back to the table and sat down.
"Not the picture."
"Then what?"
"The papers."
His eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
"Someone showed me copies."
"When?"
"Before I got the call."
Daniel stayed standing.
May you like
"Who showed you?"
Claire looked at him.
