Part 4
Eleanor read the names.
“The board packet showed one transfer.”
“I know.”
“Who authorized the second?”
“The electronic approval bears Adrian’s credentials and Samuel Hodge’s.”
Hodge was the foundation’s chief financial officer. He had spent twenty-three years with the Westcotts and wrote emails without contractions.
“Samuel would not authorize an unlisted management advance.”
“His credentials did.”
“That is different.”
“Good. Keep making that distinction.”
Mara slid the third page across the table. It contained a redacted access report.
“The first instruction was entered from the foundation office at three forty-two yesterday afternoon. The second was entered at four eighteen from a device using the estate network.”
“The reception began at five.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian was upstairs dressing at four eighteen.”
“You know that?”
“He sent me a photograph asking which pocket square looked less political.”
Mara stared at her.
“He owns seven identical white pocket squares.”
“He believes two of them are cream.”
“Can you preserve the photograph?”
“I did.”
Mara made a note.
Eleanor studied the access report again. “The estate network covers the office wing, main house, guesthouse, and security building.”
“And the covered terrace.”
“Not reliably.”
“Someone tested it?”
“I did last month.”
Mara looked up. “Why?”
“The trustees complained the portal kept disconnecting during the summer meeting.”
“You troubleshoot wireless networks for fun?”
“I was avoiding a conversation with Vivienne.”
“That is the first relatable thing you’ve said since I arrived.”
Eleanor almost smiled.
Mara’s expression remained serious. “The hold did more than stop the first transfer. It caught the second before release. Whoever created it may not know yet.”
“Then we leave it hidden.”
“For several hours. Not days.”
“How long?”
“The receiving bank has an automated acknowledgment scheduled at noon. If that does not arrive, someone will start asking questions.”
Eleanor checked the clock. Six thirty-eight.
“What is North Quay?”
“We are finding out.”
“We?”
“My office, not you.”
“I can search corporate records.”
“You can eat breakfast.”
“I am not hungry.”
“That has never been persuasive.”
Mara stood, opened a cabinet without asking, and found a box of oatmeal that had expired two months earlier.
“This house contains the diet of a graduate student being punished.”
“I travel.”
“You avoid grocery stores.”
“I dislike the music.”
Mara filled a saucepan with water.
The ordinary sound of the faucet eased something in Eleanor’s chest. She watched her mentor cook oatmeal in a kitchen neither of them considered welcoming. Outside, a delivery truck reversed somewhere on the street, its warning beeps patient and repetitive.
Mara set a bowl in front of her.
“Your appointment is going to become public inside the organization today.”
“It was always going to.”
“Your engagement makes it worse.”
“I know.”
“Do you? The board can argue that you lost independence when you became involved with Adrian. Vivienne can argue you concealed a material conflict. Adrian can argue that every private conversation you had with him became an undisclosed investigation.”
“I did not use private information.”
“You knew his schedule.”
“I knew he was choosing a pocket square.”
“You know his habits, his passwords, his relationships, what frightens him, and which version of himself he performs for his mother. That is information.”
Eleanor stirred the oatmeal.
“I offered to resign when we became serious.”
“And Henry declined.”
“He said the role was designed to withstand discomfort.”
“Henry said many things that sounded wise after three bourbons.”
“He was sober.”
“That makes it worse.”
Eleanor ate a spoonful. It was too hot.
Mara opened another folder.
“Henry amended the protector instrument eighteen months ago. You have authority to suspend extraordinary distributions when there is credible evidence of self-dealing, unauthorized amendment, or material misrepresentation to the board. You do not have authority to run an open-ended investigation by yourself.”
“I know.”
“You must provide written grounds within seventy-two hours.”
“I know.”
“If the grounds involve Vivienne, she will attack your motives. If they involve Adrian, she will attack your relationship. If they involve both, she will say you created a private family dispute and dressed it in fiduciary language.”
“She will say that regardless.”
“Yes. The question is whether anyone believes her.”
Eleanor lowered the spoon.
“What are you not telling me?”
Mara’s fingers rested on the folder.
“Samuel Hodge called at five forty this morning. He claims he did not authorize either transfer.”
“Did he report compromised credentials?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He said he wanted to review the records before making allegations.”
“He is protecting someone.”
“Possibly himself.”
“Samuel does not improvise fraud.”
“People do surprising things when pensions, reputations, or adult children’s mortgages are involved.”
“Did he ask who froze the funds?”
“Three times.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
Eleanor pushed the bowl away.
Mara folded her hands.
“One more problem. The archive log entry you created was altered at eleven nineteen last night.”
Eleanor’s skin cooled.
“Altered how?”
“Your notation that you removed three original protector instruments for secure review has been deleted.”
“The system preserves revisions.”
“The visible revision history was also cleared.”
“That requires administrator access.”
“Yes.”
“Samuel has it.”
“So does the foundation’s technology vendor.”
“And Adrian.”
Mara nodded.
“Which brings us to the file box. Where is it?”
Eleanor looked toward the front window.
“Not here.”
“I gathered that.”
“The chauffeur placed it in the sedan’s secure compartment before the reception.”
“Does he know what it contains?”
“No.”
“Where did he take it?”
“To a private records vault in Greenwich.”
“Whose vault?”
“Vale Fiduciary Services.”
Mara became very still.
“Your father’s company.”
“Former company.”
“His name remains on the lease.”
“He has no access.”
“Are you certain?”
“I changed the access protocol after his stroke.”
“You changed it, or the storage provider changed it?”
“I instructed them.”
Mara leaned back.
“Call the provider.”
May you like
Eleanor did.
The first person who answered transferred her to an account manager, who asked for a verification phrase Eleanor had not used in three years. She supplied it. The manager typed for a while and then said there was no record of a deposit the previous evening.
