Chương 7
“I have a place in Tribeca. Damian doesn’t have the address.”
Evelyn almost laughed from sheer exhaustion.
“You think I’m going home with you?”
“No.”
Vanessa placed the key on the console table.
“I think you should know there is one place tonight nobody planned for you.”
Then she walked away.
Evelyn stared at the key.
She did not take it.
But she remembered where Vanessa put it.
Three hours later, she checked into a hotel under her mother’s maiden name and discovered that wealth did not make insomnia more interesting.
She sat on the carpet beside the bed because the mattress was too soft.
Her dress had wrinkled around her waist.
She removed the necklace and placed it on the table.
Without the pendant against her skin, she felt strangely exposed.
At 3:18 a.m., someone knocked.
She froze.
A voice came through the door.
“Room service.”
“I didn’t order anything.”
A pause.
Then, “Complimentary tea from guest services.”
She picked up the phone and called the desk.
They confirmed it.
She still did not open the door.
At 4:02, she finally changed into the hotel robe.
At 4:17, she cried.
Not dramatically.
No sobbing against a window.
No collapsing to the floor.
She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands between her knees and let tears fall while the air conditioner made an irritating clicking sound every forty seconds.
She cried because Damian had frightened her.
Then because Vanessa had watched.
Then because her father had known enough to worry and not enough to stop it.
Then because Noah had lied.
Then because part of her still missed the version of Damian she had believed existed.
That last reason embarrassed her most.
At 5:10, she opened the curtains.
Manhattan looked gray and used.
A sanitation truck crawled down the avenue.
Someone in the building across from her stood in a kitchen drinking directly from a carton.
Evelyn watched for a while.
Ordinary life.
She wanted it badly.
Her phone showed thirty-seven unread messages.
She ignored all of them except one from Detective Morales.
Please call when awake. No emergency.
Evelyn called immediately.
Morales answered on the second ring.
“You’re awake.”
“That wording made sleep impossible.”
“Sorry.”
“What happened?”
“We executed a consent search.”
“Damian consented?”
“His attorney recommended limited consent for the study and electronic devices connected to the theft allegation.”
“Why would he agree?”
“People often think saying no looks worse.”
“Does it?”
“Sometimes saying yes is worse.”
Evelyn sat straighter.
“What did you find?”
“I can’t give you everything.”
“Then why call?”
“Because we located security footage from the hallway outside the study.”
Evelyn held her breath.
“Damian?”
“No.”
The disappointment frightened her.
“Who?”
“Caleb Martin.”
His security director.
Morales continued.
“Footage shows Martin entering the study with your bag at 10:39 p.m.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Why did he have it?”
“That’s one of our questions.”
“Did you arrest him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He’s missing.”
Evelyn stood.
“What does missing mean?”
“He left his apartment shortly after midnight. Phone off. Vehicle found in a garage in Queens.”
“Damian sent him away.”
“We don’t know that.”
“You really love saying that.”
“I love proving things.”
Evelyn pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“Sorry.”
“You’re allowed to be irritated.”
“Is Damian still at the penthouse?”
“He left with counsel around four.”
“You let him go.”
“We didn’t have a basis to hold him.”
Evelyn stared out the window.
“That’s unbelievable.”
“It’s procedural.”
“It’s unbelievable and procedural.”
Morales paused.
“That’s often the combination.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
Then Morales said, “There’s more.”
Her stomach tightened.
“The transfer your father reported was reversed by the receiving bank before settlement.”
“Why?”
“Compliance hold.”
“So the money is safe?”
“For now.”
Evelyn exhaled.
“But.”
Morales did not answer immediately.
“What?”
“The USB drive was clean.”
Evelyn frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“No readable files.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn looked at the pendant on the table.
The green light had stopped pulsing.
It looked ordinary again.
“Then why plant it?”
“We don’t know.”
After the call, she stood in the shower until the water went cold.
At seven, she ordered coffee.
At seven-ten, she poured it out.
It tasted like burnt wood.
At seven-twenty, she called her father.
Arthur answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Good morning to you too.”
A pause.
“Good morning.”
“Did you sleep?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
She sat by the window.
“Tell me about Halcyon.”
Arthur went quiet.
“All of it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“That phrase has expired.”
He exhaled.
“Halcyon is a data infrastructure acquisition. Reed Strategic is part of a consortium.”
“What does Cross Meridian want?”
“A controlling financing position.”
“Why?”
“Because the underlying assets include regional data centers, fiber rights, utility contracts.”
“And the forty-eight million?”
“Escrow reserve. Temporary movement authority exists during restructuring.”
“Who has access?”
“Several parties.”
“Including Damian?”
“Not directly.”
“But someone connected to him tried.”
“Yes.”
“Why frame me with an empty drive?”
Arthur said nothing.
“Dad.”
“I don’t know.”
She looked at the room service tray.
There was a tiny glass jar of honey she had no intention of using.
She twisted the lid on and off while thinking.
“What would happen if I were caught stealing Halcyon documents from Damian?”
Arthur answered slowly.
“To you?”
“To the deal.”
Another pause.
“It could compromise Reed Strategic.”
“How?”
“Conflict. Espionage allegations. Potential regulatory review. Litigation.”
“So even if the drive contained nothing—”
“The accusation could matter.”
Evelyn stopped twisting the jar.
Damian had not needed stolen files.
He needed a thief.
Her.
Arthur said, “Evie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Sorry.”
“Did Damian know I wasn’t involved in the company?”
“Yes.”
“Would that matter?”
“It might make the accusation less credible.”
“Unless he made it look like I was doing something secretly for you.”
Arthur became silent.
Evelyn’s throat tightened.
“He didn’t choose me because I had information.”
“No.”
“He chose me because I didn’t.”
Arthur did not answer.
That was answer enough.
May you like
She closed her eyes.
Three weeks of dinners.
