Chương 5
“Because she knew something she shouldn’t have known.”
Sofia waited.
Daniel’s eyes stayed on the carpet.
“My father’s company had a vendor called North Coast Facilities. On paper it provided maintenance staffing. In reality, it was mostly a pass-through.”
“For what?”
“Money.”
“Whose?”
“Cross Meridian’s.”
“To where?”
“Other companies. Political consultants. Private security. Personal expenses. I didn’t know all of it then.”
Sofia looked at Evelyn.
She gave no reaction.
Daniel continued.
“I had found irregular payments during an internal audit. I brought them to my father.”
“What did he say?”
“That I didn’t understand how the business worked.”
“And you accepted that?”
“For a while.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because he was my father.”
It was the first answer that did not sound rehearsed.
He said, “Claire somehow got hold of a North Coast invoice that matched a payment I had flagged. She wanted confirmation.”
“And you gave it.”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
Daniel leaned back.
“I was angry.”
“At your father?”
“At everyone. Him. The company. Myself. I’d spent my whole life being told I was supposed to inherit something important, and then I realized half of what made it valuable was built on people doing things nobody wanted written down.”
Sofia felt a flare of anger.
“Don’t make this noble.”
“I’m not.”
“You became a whistleblower.”
“I became a coward with access.”
The phrase stopped her.
Daniel looked at the chandelier reflection in the window.
“I met Claire in a coffee shop. Then a library. Then a diner near the airport because she thought nobody from the company would see us there.”
“What was she like?”
Daniel looked at Sofia.
She instantly regretted asking.
But he answered.
“Impatient.”
A tiny ache moved through her.
“Yes.”
“She interrupted me constantly.”
“She did.”
“She drank terrible coffee.”
“She thought bitterness meant quality.”
Daniel almost smiled.
It vanished quickly.
“She was funny when she was angry.”
Sofia looked away.
“Did you sleep with her?”
“No.”
The answer came without hesitation.
“Did you kiss her?”
Daniel paused.
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Oh, God.”
“Once.”
She stood so fast the chair behind her shifted.
“It wasn’t—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
“I won’t.”
“You met my sister secretly, kissed her, watched her die, kept her necklace, met me two years later, dated me, moved in with me, proposed to me, and you were going to marry me today.”
“Yes.”
She slapped him.
The sound woke Hannah.
Daniel did not move.
Sofia stared at her own hand.
She had never slapped anyone in her life.
Hannah sat upright.
“What happened?”
“No,” Sofia said.
Hannah looked at Daniel, then at Evelyn.
“Oh.”
Sofia rubbed her palm.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel’s face had reddened where she hit him.
“Don’t apologize.”
“I’m not apologizing to you. I’m apologizing to myself.”
She sat down again.
“Keep talking.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Claire and I kissed after a meeting. It was a mistake.”
Sofia looked at him.
He corrected himself.
“No. That’s not true. I wanted to. So did she. It happened once. After that, she told me it couldn’t happen again because I was a source.”
“That sounds like Claire.”
“Yes.”
“You liked her.”
“Yes.”
“Did she like you?”
“I think so.”
Sofia pressed her thumbnail into her palm.
The jealous pain disgusted her. Claire was dead. Daniel had betrayed Sofia in a dozen larger ways. Yet the image of her sister kissing the man Sofia had planned to marry lodged under her ribs.
Human beings were ugly in grief.
She hated Claire for three seconds.
Then hated herself for that.
“What happened the night she died?”
Daniel breathed in slowly.
“Claire called me at eleven twenty.”
“You remember the time?”
“I’ve remembered it every day.”
Sofia said nothing.
“She said someone had searched her apartment.”
“Police never found evidence of forced entry.”
“She said nothing was stolen. Things were moved.”
“Did she call police?”
“She said she didn’t trust anyone yet.”
“That was stupid.”
“Yes.”
“She could be stupid.”
“Yes.”
Sofia appreciated that he did not defend her sister from her.
“She asked me to meet her at a parking garage downtown. She had a backpack, her laptop, a folder. She said she had enough to publish but wanted to get out of the city first.”
“Why?”
“She thought my father knew I was talking to her.”
“Did he?”
Daniel looked at his hands.
“Yes.”
Sofia’s entire body tightened.
“How?”
“I told him.”
The room went very quiet.
Even Hannah did not move.
Sofia whispered, “Why?”
Daniel’s eyes filled, but he did not cry.
“He called me that afternoon. He knew internal documents had been copied. He knew the leaks had come from my division. He said if I was involved, the board would destroy me. He said my mother’s medical insurance, her house, everything tied to the family trust could become complicated.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know.”
“You were twenty-five, not twelve.”
“I know.”
“You believed he could take your mother’s house?”
“At the time, yes.”
“You were afraid of losing money.”
“I was afraid of losing my family.”
“So you gave him Claire.”
“No.”
“You told him.”
“I told him I had spoken to a reporter. I didn’t give him her name.”
Sofia looked at him.
“At first.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“At first?”
“He already suspected Claire. He asked if it was Bennett.”
Sofia stood again, but this time she did not hit him.
“You answered.”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Daniel.”
“I didn’t answer.”
“You think silence protected her?”
“No.”
“What happened after you picked her up?”
“I drove her to a motel near the interstate. She had booked a room under another name. She said she was meeting an editor in the morning.”
“And the necklace?”
“She took it off in the car.”
“Why?”
“She said if something happened, she didn’t want whoever went through her things taking everything.”
Sofia’s lips trembled.
“What did she say?”
May you like
Daniel looked at her for a long time.
“She said, ‘Give this to Sof if I don’t come back.’”
