Part 5
“I keep forgetting to throw those out,” she said.
“Why do you have them?”
“A golden retriever followed me home in February.”
“You live half a mile from the library.”
“He was persuasive.”
Rachel made toast and scrambled eggs. Elena ate half a slice and went to sleep in Rachel’s bed while Rachel took the couch.
She woke at eleven to the sound of the temporary phone ringing.
For several seconds, she did not know where she was. The ceiling sloped differently from the one at home. A stack of library books stood beside the bed. Rachel had placed a glass of water on top of a coaster printed with the face of Virginia Woolf.
The phone stopped, then began again.
The number was unfamiliar.
“Elena?”
It was Nora.
Elena pushed herself upright.
“Where are you?”
“At Rachel’s.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
Nora exhaled. In the background, a car door chimed.
“I gave the police a statement.”
Elena waited.
“I told them Adrian reached for the folder,” Nora said. “I told them you stepped back when he pulled it.”
“Did you tell them your mother held my arm?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Elena looked through the bedroom door. Rachel stood in the hall holding a mug, not pretending she had not heard.
“Where is the folder?”
“I don’t know.”
“It disappeared before the police came in.”
“I know.”
“Who moved it?”
“I don’t know.”
Nora’s answers had the clipped quality she used when trying not to cry. Unlike Adrian, she had inherited their father’s broad face and tendency to look irritated when frightened. She had spent the dinner in a black velvet dress that seemed chosen to make her invisible beside Celeste’s ivory blouse.
“Elena,” Nora said, “there are things about the company you don’t understand.”
“That’s what Adrian always says.”
“I don’t mean it like that.”
“How do you mean it?”
Another pause. A turn signal clicked in the background.
“Page fourteen wasn’t in the agreement Martin circulated.”
“I know.”
“And it wasn’t the only change.”
Elena gripped the blanket.
“What else changed?”
“I can’t do this on the phone.”
“Then come here.”
“My mother would—”
Nora stopped.
Elena waited for her to finish. She did not.
“Nora, your mother is not in the room.”
“I know.”
“Then finish the sentence.”
Nora’s breath shook once.
“My mother would say I’m panicking.”
“Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Come anyway.”
Nora arrived forty minutes later wearing jeans, a gray sweater, and large sunglasses despite the cloud cover. She had brought nothing but her car keys and a paper cup of tea she did not drink.
Rachel let her in without warmth and pointed to a dining chair buried under books.
“You can move those,” she said.
Nora moved the books one at a time and stacked them neatly on the floor. Elena recognized the habit. Celeste had trained both her children to restore order before discussing anything uncomfortable.
They sat around the small dining table. A radiator knocked beneath the window.
Nora removed her sunglasses. Her eyes were swollen.
“Adrian borrowed against his distributions,” she said.
Elena had suspected debt. The word borrowed made the scale sound temporary.
“How much?”
“Seventy-two million.”
Rachel stopped lifting her mug.
Elena looked at Nora.
“From whom?”
“A private credit fund. The loan is tied to the Hudson North project and two holding companies.”
Hudson North was Adrian’s redevelopment plan for a string of abandoned industrial properties along the river. For two years he had described it as the project that would prove he was more than Thomas Vale’s son. Groundbreaking had been delayed by environmental reviews, financing disputes, and a lawsuit involving one of the parcels.
“He told me the project financing was separate,” Elena said.
“It was supposed to be.”
“What does that have to do with our child’s trust?”
Nora folded and unfolded the paper sleeve around her cup.
“The lender required additional collateral after the permit delays. Adrian pledged interests he expected to receive from Dad’s trust. Martin told him the interests couldn’t be transferred that way. The family settlement was supposed to clarify governance and keep the company from being broken apart.”
“And page fourteen?”
“Would allow future trust distributions to support family entities.”
“Family entities controlled by Adrian.”
“And my mother.”
Rachel leaned forward. “Did your mother put the page in?”
Nora’s eyes moved toward the window.
“I don’t know who physically inserted it.”
“That isn’t what I asked,” Rachel said.
“Rachel,” Elena said.
“No, I’m curious how many millions of dollars are required before everyone starts using passive voice.”
Nora flinched.
Elena was too tired to protect either of them.
“Why did they need my signature?”
“The trust for Adrian’s descendants becomes irrevocable when the first child is born. Until then, certain terms can be settled by agreement among the interested parties. Martin said any changes should include an independent representative for the child’s future interest.”
“Who was the independent representative?”
“There wasn’t one listed on the page you saw.”
Elena felt cold beneath her borrowed sweater.
“So my signature was meant to stand in for independent approval.”
“Yes.”
“Without my own lawyer.”
“Yes.”
“And the document said I had received legal advice.”
Nora stared at the table.
“Yes.”
The radiator knocked again, three uneven taps.
Elena thought of Martin Cole placing the folders before each guest. He had explained the signature lines in a smooth, weary voice. Had he known about the substituted page? He had left before anyone signed, saying his wife was waiting at home. Celeste had complained that attorneys charged by the hour and still left before coffee.
“Did Martin draft it?” Elena asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I sent his office the copy from last night.”
“You had one?”
Nora looked embarrassed.
“I put mine in my tote before dessert. I didn’t know yours disappeared until the police asked.”
“May I see it?”
“It’s with my lawyer.”
The phrase changed the room.
May you like
“You hired a lawyer this morning?” Elena asked.
“My own lawyer. Not Martin.”
