Chương 4
Evelyn nodded once.
“Wednesday afternoon Daniel was in New York. He asked me to retrieve original closing documents from the safe in his private office. I had the code because he gave it to me. The documents were in a red file box. Beside the box was a velvet pouch.”
“You opened it.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“I thought it held an office key we’ve been looking for.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It does.”
“Is it true?”
“Yes.”
Sofia watched her face.
Evelyn did not appear offended.
“What made you know it was Claire’s?”
“I didn’t. Not immediately. I saw the initials. C.B.”
“There are millions of people with those initials.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
Evelyn folded her hands.
“Daniel came into the office Thursday morning. I asked whether the necklace belonged to someone named C.B.”
“What did he do?”
“He stopped moving.”
Sofia waited.
“He didn’t ask why I wanted to know. He didn’t ask where I’d seen it. He said, ‘Put it back.’”
Sofia’s stomach tightened.
“I asked who C.B. was. He said it was none of my business.”
“That sounds like him.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “It doesn’t.”
Sofia almost argued.
Then she understood.
Daniel hated conflict, but he was rarely rude. Under pressure he became quieter, not sharper.
Evelyn continued.
“I looked up Claire’s case. I had seen photographs of her with you before, but I had never connected her to the initials. Once I did, I found a photo from a journalism awards dinner eight years ago. Claire was wearing the necklace.”
“And Daniel?”
“Not in that photo.”
“Then how did you know he knew her?”
“I searched archived Cross Meridian records. Daniel was twenty-five when Claire disappeared. He worked in internal audit for his father’s company. Claire had written three articles about labor violations involving subcontractors used by Cross Meridian properties.”
Sofia sat forward.
“She never told me.”
“She probably couldn’t.”
“Claire told me everything.”
Evelyn’s expression softened.
“No one tells anyone everything.”
The sentence hurt more than it should have.
Evelyn said, “I found an old expense approval signed by Daniel related to an investigation Claire had been asking questions about. It didn’t prove they met. So I asked him.”
“And?”
“He denied knowing her.”
Sofia stared at the dark television screen.
“Then what?”
“I told him I was going to Sofia.”
“You said my name like that?”
“Yes.”
“Not ‘your fiancée’?”
“No.”
Sofia did not know why that mattered, but it did.
“He asked me to give him until Friday.”
“And you did.”
“I gave him until noon.”
“Why?”
“Because he told me Claire had used him as a source and that explaining the rest would destroy more than your wedding.”
Sofia’s laugh contained no humor.
“He was right.”
“At noon Friday, he told me he had decided not to tell you before the ceremony.”
“And you let him get to the altar.”
“No. I went to your hotel room at three yesterday afternoon.”
Sofia frowned.
“I was there.”
“You were downstairs for rehearsal.”
“My mother was there.”
“She told me you were already overwhelmed and asked me to wait until after rehearsal.”
Sofia stood.
“She knew?”
“Only that I needed to discuss Daniel.”
“She knew about the necklace?”
“No.”
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because it belonged to you.”
Sofia paced toward the window.
City lights blurred against the glass.
“So you tried today.”
“At nine this morning. You were with the makeup team and six other people.”
“I could have walked out.”
“I should have insisted.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
Sofia turned.
“You had every chance not to embarrass me in front of everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you do it there?”
Evelyn’s mouth tightened.
“Because Daniel promised me at eleven fifteen that he would postpone the ceremony himself.”
Sofia stopped.
“He what?”
“He said he would tell you privately. I believed him.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to.”
That answer, more than anything else, made Sofia believe her.
Evelyn looked down at her hands.
“At two thirty, he texted me that he couldn’t do it. He said he would tell you after the honeymoon.”
“Honeymoon.”
“Yes.”
“We were going to Italy.”
“I know.”
“He was going to take me to Italy with my sister’s necklace sitting in his safe.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Sofia walked to the desk and picked up the hotel notepad.
She drew one line across the top.
Then another beneath it.
“What are you doing?” Evelyn asked.
“I don’t know.”
She kept drawing.
Claire used to do that when she was angry. Straight lines on whatever paper was nearby. Receipts, newspapers, envelopes. Sofia had copied her without realizing.
“Where is the flash drive?”
“Police are getting a warrant.”
“He said it was at our apartment.”
“Yes.”
“You think he’ll give them permission?”
“He did.”
Sofia looked up.
That surprised her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
At one fourteen in the morning, Daniel came back.
Hannah was asleep on the couch.
Margaret had gone home after Sofia promised four times that she would not be alone.
Evelyn stood when Daniel entered.
He looked at Sofia.
“Can we talk?”
Evelyn said, “No.”
Sofia said, “Yes.”
Evelyn glanced at her.
Sofia added, “You stay.”
Daniel nodded.
He sat in the chair Evelyn had used earlier.
His wedding ring finger was bare.
So was Sofia’s.
They had never reached that part.
He pressed his hands together between his knees.
“Police took the drive.”
“What’s on it?”
“Emails. Documents. Maybe audio.”
“Maybe?”
“Claire used to record interviews.”
Sofia’s voice tightened.
“You had Claire’s recordings for six years?”
“One recording.”
“You said maybe.”
“I don’t know whether the file still works.”
“Stop talking like a lawyer.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“She’s not my lawyer.”
“I know what she is.”
Evelyn said, “Do you?”
Daniel ignored her.
Sofia folded her arms.
“Start at the beginning.”
He rubbed his palms together.
“Claire contacted me in March, six years ago.”
“How?”
“Work email. She said she was researching contractors used by Cross Meridian.”
“You answered?”
May you like
“No. Not at first.”
“Why did you eventually?”
