Chương 11
“Where is she?”
“Daniel’s with her.”
Claire sat.
For several seconds she only breathed.
Then she looked at Mina.
“I checked my apartment.”
Mina turned.
Claire reached into her bag.
“There was something taped underneath my kitchen sink.”
She pulled out a sealed manila envelope.
On the front, in Evelyn’s handwriting, were four words.
If anything happens to me.
Mina stared at the envelope without touching it.
Claire held it by one corner as if fingerprints had suddenly become sacred.
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I almost did in the parking garage and then thought maybe that was exactly what I shouldn’t do.”
Mina looked toward the ICU doors.
“Police.”
“I know.”
Claire swallowed.
“I just needed to get it here.”
Mina took out her phone.
“Call the officer.”
“Which one?”
“The one at the funeral home gave me his card.”
She searched her pocket, then remembered she had shoved the card beneath the water bottle in Evelyn’s car.
For a second, the problem felt absurdly impossible.
Claire said, “Hospital security can call them.”
“Yes.”
Mina stood.
“Don’t let anyone else touch that.”
Claire gave her a tired look.
“I gathered that.”
The security guard listened without interrupting, then disappeared behind his desk to make a call.
Mina returned to the chairs.
Claire still held the envelope.
“Did Evelyn ever mention midazolam?”
Claire frowned.
“What is that?”
“A sedative.”
“No.”
“The doctors found it in her system.”
Claire’s fingers tightened on the envelope.
“Could she have been given it at the hospital?”
“They’re checking.”
Claire looked toward the ICU.
“She hated being sedated.”
Mina turned.
“How do you know?”
“She had a colonoscopy two years ago and spent a week complaining that she lost half a day.”
Despite herself, Mina almost smiled.
“That sounds like her.”
“She said if someone was going to put her unconscious, they should at least let her finish her coffee first.”
Claire laughed once.
It broke halfway through.
Then she covered her eyes.
Mina sat beside her.
Neither woman spoke for several seconds.
A vending machine hummed across the waiting room.
Somewhere down the hall, a child was laughing at something on a tablet.
The sound seemed obscene and comforting at the same time.
Claire lowered her hands.
“Was Daniel really there when they found her?”
“Yes.”
“Was he with her when she collapsed?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked away.
“You don’t trust him.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No.”
Mina hesitated.
“Do you?”
Claire rubbed her thumb over the edge of the envelope.
“Evelyn loved him.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I know.”
Claire looked tired enough to be decades older.
“I think Daniel loved her.”
“That still wasn’t the question.”
Claire gave Mina a faint look.
“You’re more like her than I remembered.”
Mina said nothing.
Claire sighed.
“I trusted him before.”
“Before what?”
“Before Evelyn started finding things.”
“What changed?”
“She said Daniel kept telling her not to dig.”
“Maybe he thought she was overreacting.”
“Maybe.”
Claire’s voice flattened.
“That’s what he always thought when she saw something before he did.”
The ICU doors opened.
Daniel stepped out.
He stopped when he saw Claire.
For one instant, Mina expected hostility.
Instead, he simply looked exhausted.
Claire stood.
“How is she?”
“She opened her eyes again.”
“Did she see you?”
“I think so.”
“Did she recognize you?”
Daniel looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Claire stepped closer.
“What did she do?”
“She tried to move her hand.”
His voice broke.
“I held it.”
Claire’s face softened despite herself.
Daniel noticed the envelope.
“What’s that?”
Claire did not answer.
Daniel looked at Mina.
Mina said, “Something Evelyn left at Claire’s apartment.”
Daniel’s eyes returned to the handwriting.
He took one step forward.
Claire pulled the envelope closer to her body.
Daniel stopped.
“I’m not going to take it.”
Claire said, “Good.”
He looked at her.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m not handing it over.”
“To me?”
“To anyone except police.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Mina watched anger return, but it was different from the funeral home.
This time it had nowhere clean to land.
“My wife left an envelope saying if anything happens to her.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect me not to want to know what’s inside?”
“I expect you to understand why we’re being careful.”
Daniel laughed quietly.
“We.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you think happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you think I had something to do with it.”
“I think Evelyn was afraid.”
Daniel stared at her.
“She told Thomas she was afraid of me too.”
Claire’s eyebrows lifted.
“She told Thomas?”
“That’s what he claims.”
Claire looked at Mina.
“That doesn’t sound right.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“What doesn’t?”
“She stopped trusting Thomas months ago.”
The words changed him.
Mina saw it happen.
“What?”
Claire looked at him again.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“She thought he was hiding something in the firm.”
Daniel went still.
“What did she think he was hiding?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Claire.”
“I’m telling you what she told me.”
Daniel took a step closer.
“She accused my brother?”
“She suspected him.”
“When?”
“Around the time of the Halpern account.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
Mina asked, “What’s the Halpern account?”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
Claire said, “The client whose wife died.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know the name?”
“Evelyn told me.”
“That was confidential.”
Claire gave him a sharp look.
“So was almost everything she was finding.”
Daniel sat down slowly.
His anger had drained into concentration.
“Halpern called the house?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me that?”
“She did.”
Daniel looked up.
“No.”
“She said she did.”
“When?”
Claire hesitated.
“I don’t know the date.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“She told me there was an account discrepancy.”
“That sounds like the sanitized version.”
“She didn’t say he called her.”
“Maybe she thought you’d dismiss it.”
Daniel looked at her.
Claire immediately regretted the phrasing.
He gave a small nod.
“That’s fair.”
May you like
Mina watched him.
That answer felt more convincing than denial would have.
