Chương 5
Ethan stared at her.
He had given Vanessa access to Margaret’s house the previous winter after Margaret’s hip surgery.
Vanessa had offered to help coordinate groceries and appointments.
Margaret had complained.
Ethan had told her to be grateful.
The memory made his stomach turn.
“What happened?”
“She asked what Leonard had told me.”
“And you said?”
“That she should ask Leonard.”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
“She became angry.”
“How angry?”
“She pushed me.”
Ethan looked at the bruise.
Margaret shook her head.
“The cheek happened when I hit the edge of the desk.”
“What about your forehead?”
“Floor.”
“You told the hospital you fell.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Margaret did not answer.
He waited.
She looked at him finally.
“Because I called you first.”
Ethan’s jaw locked.
“You never called me.”
“I did.”
He reached for his phone.
“Tuesday. Seven seventeen.”
He checked.
There it was.
A missed call.
He had been at a private dinner with lenders.
Below it was a text from Vanessa sent at 7:23.
Your mom is worked up again. I’m handling it.
Ethan sat back down.
The room seemed to tilt around a perfectly ordinary six-word message.
I’m handling it.
He had reacted with a thumbs-up.
Margaret watched him find it.
“You trusted her.”
He put the phone on the bedside table.
“Yes.”
“More than me.”
He wanted to argue.
Instead he said, “Yes.”
Margaret looked toward the ceiling.
“That is partly my fault.”
He looked at her.
It was not a sentence Margaret Cole said often.
She continued before he could respond.
“I spent years telling you what to do. Then when something mattered, I sounded the same.”
The admission sat between them.
Ethan lowered his eyes.
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I had no proof she pushed me.”
“You had injuries.”
“She said I grabbed her.”
“Did you?”
“After she pushed me.”
He almost smiled.
“Of course.”
Margaret did not.
“She knew about Leonard.”
That was what frightened her.
Not the fall.
Ethan understood.
“What happened after?”
“She left. I called an ambulance later.”
“You waited?”
“Two hours.”
“Why?”
“I was embarrassed.”
The word seemed unnatural in his mother’s mouth.
Ethan leaned back.
Margaret stared at the blanket.
“I had spent a year accusing her. You had spent a year defending her. Then I let her into my house with a key you gave her, and she put me on the floor.”
Ethan looked at his bandaged hand.
“What did she want tonight?”
“The transfer.”
“You said she didn’t need your signature.”
“She needed me to say I authorized the earlier approvals.”
He looked up.
“Why?”
“Because Leonard found the forged ones.”
The room went quiet except for the ventilation system.
Ethan finally asked, “Where is Leonard?”
Margaret’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
That became the central question.
Not the syringe.
Not the transfer.
Where was Leonard Shaw?
At 8:30 the next morning, Ethan was on the phone with his attorney, Rachel Kim, while standing beside a vending machine outside the intensive observation unit.
Rachel had represented him for eleven years and had never once sounded impressed by his money.
“Do not start your own investigation,” she said.
“I’m not.”
“You called the foundation’s IT director at six-thirty in the morning.”
“That’s not an investigation.”
“You asked him to preserve email, access logs, vendor records, authorization records, and building-entry data.”
“That’s preservation.”
“That is the beginning of an investigation.”
“Good.”
Rachel sighed.
“What else?”
“I told Martin to freeze Vanessa’s access to company systems.”
“Does she have company access?”
“Limited.”
“Why?”
“She advises the family office.”
“That is not the company.”
“She also sits on our strategy committee.”
Silence.
Rachel said, “You put your girlfriend on a strategy committee?”
“She has a finance background.”
“She has a boyfriend background.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“Thank you.”
“I’m helping.”
“Doesn’t feel like it.”
“That’s how you know I’m helping.”
He looked through the observation-room window.
Margaret was asleep.
“What do I do?”
Rachel’s voice changed.
Less teasing.
“First, separate everything. Your mother’s safety is one problem. Potential foundation fraud is another. Vanessa’s access to Cole Meridian is a third. Leonard Shaw’s whereabouts are a fourth. The hospital incident is a police matter. Do not mix them because your brain wants one villain and one clean story.”
“What if there is one villain?”
“Then evidence will survive separation.”
He hated that she was right.
“Second?”
“Tell the board chair.”
Ethan went still.
“No.”
“Then you’re already making bad decisions.”
“This has nothing to do with the company.”
“You just told me Vanessa sits on the strategy committee and has system access.”
“Limited.”
“You like that word today.”
“Rachel.”
“The board needs to know there may have been unauthorized access by someone connected to you personally.”
“We’re closing a financing round.”
“Yes.”
“This could kill it.”
“Yes.”
He pressed two fingers against the bridge of his nose.
“Give me twenty-four hours.”
“No.”
“Twelve.”
“No.”
“Six.”
Rachel paused.
“Three. Long enough for me to understand what access Vanessa actually had. Then we notify the chair.”
Ethan looked at the clock.
“Fine.”
“That was not negotiation. I was being polite.”
“Three hours.”
“Good.”
He hung up.
At 9:02 a.m., Martin arrived wearing yesterday’s shirt.
“You look terrible,” Martin said.
Ethan handed him coffee.
“So do you.”
“I have children. I always look terrible.”
Martin took the cup and glanced through the glass at Margaret.
“How is she?”
“Stable.”
“And Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
Martin shifted his weight.
They had worked together for fourteen years. Martin had a habit of scratching his jaw when he wanted to say something unpleasant.
He scratched his jaw.
“What?”
“There were concerns.”
Ethan looked at him.
“About Vanessa.”
“What concerns?”
“Nothing like this.”
“What concerns?”
Martin sighed.
“She asked for access to a forecasting folder last quarter.”
“She advises strategy.”
“Yes, and the forecasting folder contained lender assumptions.”
“She signed confidentiality agreements.”
“This is not about the agreement.”
“Then what is it about?”
“It was unusual.”
Ethan stared at him.
May you like
“Did you tell me?”
“I mentioned it.”
