Chương 11
“I wasn’t trying to.”
“You were close.”
He nodded.
Claire dipped her sandwich into tomato soup without asking if Thomas cared.
He watched.
“You used to hate that.”
“I changed.”
“When?”
“Apparently losing a leg improves soup.”
Thomas laughed before he could stop himself.
Claire laughed too.
Then both became quiet.
Human beings were inconvenient.
You could be furious with someone and still know exactly what would make him laugh.
The criminal case against Grant developed slowly.
That angered the public, which had expected the yacht photographs to produce immediate answers.
Headlines grew less certain.
Some commentators said the investigation had “stalled.”
Others claimed wealthy families were protected.
Claire understood the frustration.
She also understood, increasingly, that speed could be another form of dishonesty.
Grant was eventually charged with financial crimes related to the company funds and with offenses connected to evidence alteration and obstruction.
The prosecutors did not initially charge him with attempted murder.
Claire read that sentence three times in an email from Keene.
Then she closed the laptop.
Rachel sat beside her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“What did you expect?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t true.”
Claire turned.
“I expected the largest possible word.”
Rachel nodded.
“That makes sense.”
“They believe he covered up the maintenance record.”
“Yes.”
“They believe he paid Celeste to scare me.”
“The charging documents allege conduct consistent with that.”
“But they can’t prove he touched the latch.”
“Not yet.”
Claire pressed her palms against her eyes.
“So I’m supposed to sit in court while people argue about invoices.”
“Probably.”
“I lost my leg.”
“I know.”
“The invoices have both legs.”
Rachel stared at her.
Claire dropped her hands.
“That was terrible.”
“Yes.”
“I’m keeping it.”
“Fair.”
The divorce became easier after that.
Not emotionally.
Procedurally.
Grant stopped contesting the fact that the marriage was over.
The fight moved to money and parenting.
Claire refused to use the trust control as leverage for sole custody.
Rachel approved.
Thomas approved too eagerly, so Claire told him his opinion had not been requested.
Grant’s attorneys wanted expanded unsupervised parenting time.
Emma’s therapist recommended gradual contact.
The court adopted an interim arrangement that frustrated everyone.
Grant saw Emma regularly but not as freely as he wanted.
Claire had to see him at exchanges.
At the first one, he stood beside a family center entrance wearing the same brown jacket Claire had bought him six Christmases earlier.
She hated that the jacket still fit.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
Emma ran to him.
Grant hugged her.
Then he looked at Claire.
“Can we talk?”
“Through lawyers.”
“Not about the case.”
“That leaves weather.”
“Claire.”
She almost walked away.
Then he said, “I didn’t touch the latch.”
She stopped.
Emma was inside now with a staff member.
Claire turned.
Grant’s face looked older.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Did you ask someone else to?”
“No.”
“Did you know Celeste planned to frighten me?”
“Yes.”
The admission was so flat Claire had no immediate response.
Grant rubbed his hands together.
“I knew about the hotel idea.”
“The note.”
“Yes.”
“Mind your own business.”
He looked ashamed.
“I never approved the exact wording.”
Claire laughed.
Grant closed his eyes.
“I know how that sounds.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“You were going to make me think somebody broke into a room where our daughter was staying.”
“She would not have been there.”
“You didn’t know that.”
“I knew the sitter schedule.”
Claire stared at him.
The calmness left his face.
“That’s not—I’m explaining, not excusing it.”
“You knew the sitter schedule.”
“Yes.”
“Jesus.”
“I was panicking.”
“Stop using that like it turns behavior into weather.”
Grant looked away.
Cars moved through the parking lot.
A man nearby buckled a toddler into a minivan and sang part of a song badly.
Grant said, “I thought you were going to destroy everything.”
“The company.”
“Our life.”
“By asking where money went?”
“You had no idea what the marina deal could have become.”
“It became fraud.”
“It could have worked.”
Claire stared at him.
He gave a bitter laugh.
“There. That face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you’re already deciding what kind of person I am.”
“I was married to you for nine years.”
“And apparently none of that counts.”
“All of it counts. That’s the problem.”
Grant looked at her.
She continued.
“You were good to me after the accident.”
“I love you.”
“You covered up the records.”
“I thought they would blame me because I’d been on the tender.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His eyes shifted.
“To get my laptop.”
“Owen never saw one.”
“I didn’t find it.”
Claire waited.
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“You think that proves something?”
“No. I think it’s another thing you refuse to answer cleanly.”
“I checked the gate.”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
Grant’s face changed.
He had not meant to say it.
“You checked it.”
“I was looking at it.”
“Why?”
“It had been sticking.”
“Owen checked it before departure.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I saw him do it.”
Claire felt cold.
“You stayed around?”
“For a while.”
“You watched him check it.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Grant looked at the parking lot.
“And I left.”
“Did you open it after he checked?”
“No.”
“Did you touch it?”
Grant did not answer.
Claire stepped closer.
“Did you touch the gate?”
“I lifted the handle.”
The world did not change.
That was almost insulting.
A gull landed on a light pole.
A woman pushed a stroller past them.
Claire could smell somebody’s French fries.
“You lifted the handle.”
“It stuck.”
“After Owen checked it?”
“I wanted to see if it was secure.”
“And was it?”
“Yes.”
“Did you close it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“What do you mean, how?”
“Did you hear it latch?”
Grant rubbed his face.
“I don’t remember.”
Claire stared at him.
“Grant.”
“I don’t.”
“You never told investigators you touched it.”
“I knew what it would look like.”
“What would it look like?”
“Like this.”
May you like
“You mean like the truth.”
“I did not open that gate for you to fall through.”
