Chương 10
“Why today?”
Adrian looked through the cafeteria windows. Across the street, reporters stood in the cold near the hospital entrance. One held a photograph of Mara entering the restaurant, her bruised face enlarged beneath a headline.
“Because waiting became another decision,” he said.
Moreno followed his gaze.
“And the child paid for it.”
“Yes.”
She opened the case.
Adrian placed the blue notebook inside.
The cover was faded at the corners. Silas’s initials had been pressed into the leather, not in gold, but blind-stamped so they could only be seen when light struck at an angle.
Moreno closed the case and locked it.
“Your father kept careful records.”
“My father kept leverage.”
“Sometimes they are the same thing.”
She signed the transfer receipt and gave Adrian a copy.
He folded it once and placed it in his pocket.
By seven, the first report about the federal inquiry appeared online.
Vale Holdings’ stock began falling when the market opened.
At eight twelve, the board removed Adrian as chief executive pending investigation. Lydia abstained from the vote because police had interviewed her, but she accepted appointment as interim chair of the operating committee.
At eight twenty, she called him.
Adrian answered from the hospital chapel because it was the only room without a television.
“You gave them the notebook,” Lydia said.
“Yes.”
“You did that without consulting the board.”
“The board was compromised.”
“You have no proof of that.”
“Owen is missing.”
“Owen runs whenever consequences learn his address. That does not make the rest of us criminals.”
“North Quay paid Nolan.”
“I closed North Quay.”
“Your signature closed it.”
“You think I reopened a disgraced contractor under the same name to kidnap your child?”
“I think you believed obvious guilt would look like innocence.”
Lydia laughed softly.
“You always did admire complicated explanations when a simple one threatened your pride.”
“What is the simple explanation?”
“Owen.”
Adrian said nothing.
“He knew about the notebook,” Lydia continued. “He knew about your schedule. He controlled access codes, custody notifications, and the family archive. He visited Red Hook yesterday. Then he disappeared.”
“He worked for my father.”
“So did I.”
“Your father helped design the pension transfers.”
The line went quiet.
When Lydia spoke again, her voice had lost its polished distance.
“You don’t know that.”
“The first book identifies G.C. on seventeen entries.”
“My father’s name was not the only one with those initials.”
“He approved the shell loans.”
“You have copies?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“You should have told me.”
“I intended to.”
“When? After agents entered my office? After newspapers printed his photograph beside the word theft?”
“Would it have changed the facts?”
“It would have changed what I had time to understand.”
Adrian heard something behind her, a door closing or a drawer.
“Where are you?”
“At headquarters.”
“Alone?”
“That stopped being your concern at eight twelve.”
“Police asked you not to leave the city.”
“I am aware.”
“Did you take the brass key from Celia?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the pier vault?”
“My father mentioned it once.”
“What did he say?”
“That Silas stored insurance there.”
“What kind?”
Lydia breathed in.
“Not policies. Protection.”
The word stayed between them.
“Meet me at the pier,” Adrian said.
“You are no longer authorized to access Foundation property.”
“Neither are you while under investigation.”
“I have not been charged.”
“Then you have nothing to fear from Detective Park joining us.”
Lydia’s voice cooled.
“You think I am afraid of a police detective?”
“I think you are afraid of what your father left in the dark.”
She ended the call.
Adrian returned to Mara’s room. She was awake, eating dry cereal from a paper bowl. Victor stood near the window while a uniformed officer occupied the hall.
“Was that Lydia?” Mara asked.
“Yes.”
“Did she confess?”
“No.”
“People don’t really confess like they do on television.”
“Rarely.”
“She sounded angry.”
“You heard?”
“You didn’t close the chapel door all the way.”
Adrian looked at Victor.
Victor lifted one shoulder.
Mara spooned another piece of cereal into her mouth.
“What’s beneath the river?”
“We’re going to find out.”
“We?”
“Police.”
“You said we.”
“A grammatical failure.”
“You don’t make those.”
“I’m having an unusual day.”
She set the spoon down.
“I want to see Mom.”
“You will.”
“Today.”
“As soon as her doctors and Detective Park agree.”
“Not when you agree?”
“No.”
Mara studied him.
“Are you still the boss?”
“Of fewer things than yesterday.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“More than it should?”
“Yes.”
She nodded, apparently satisfied.
Victor’s phone rang. He answered, listened, and handed it to Adrian.
Detective Park spoke without greeting.
“We found Leah Soren.”
“Alive?”
“Yes. She checked into a motel outside New Haven under her sister’s name. She says Owen paid her to duplicate four security credentials.”
“Whose?”
“Victor’s. Lydia’s. Yours. And Emil Sarno’s.”
“The restaurant manager.”
“Yes.”
“Why mine?”
“She doesn’t know. Owen told her it was for penetration testing. He provided written authorization carrying Lydia’s digital signature.”
“Real?”
“Lydia says forged.”
“Do you believe Leah?”
“She brought the device and the emails. That helps.”
“Did Owen arrange the kidnapping?”
“Leah says she never met him in person. Instructions came through an encrypted portal. Payments came from North Quay.”
“Then we still don’t know who controlled it.”
“No.”
“What about Randall?”
“We identified a Randall Pike, former North Quay subcontractor. His car crossed the George Washington Bridge at six forty yesterday. We’re looking.”
Adrian watched Mara move cereal pieces into two neat groups.
“The pier vault,” he said.
“I heard from Celia.”
“The brass key may still be at her museum.”
“My people are retrieving it.”
“Lydia is at headquarters.”
“We have officers watching the exits.”
“She knows what the vault contains.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She knew enough to call it protection.”
Park was silent.
“I’m coming to the hospital,” she said. “Do not go to the pier.”
“I’m with my daughter.”
“That is not the same promise.”
May you like
Adrian ended the call.
Mara looked at him.
