Chương 4
“She said it before the ambulance arrived.”
“Then she is mistaken.”
“Were you in the break room yesterday morning?”
“I may have passed through.”
“There is no passage through. It is a dead-end room.”
Another pause, slightly longer.
“I was checking the refrigerator.”
“For what?”
“Someone has been taking food from the night staff.”
Declan almost smiled. The answer was insultingly ordinary.
“You investigated stolen yogurt personally?”
“You asked me to tighten overnight discipline.”
“I asked you to reduce unauthorized access to the executive floor.”
“That includes staff wandering where they should not.”
“Why was your coat wet?”
Thomas’s voice cooled. “Because it was raining.”
“You came from the garage.”
“I walked from the harbor office.”
“At one in the morning?”
“I was dealing with the Calder shipment.”
“The Calder shipment docked yesterday afternoon.”
“Customs held two containers.”
Declan pressed two fingers against his brow. “Which containers?”
“I don’t have the numbers in front of me.”
“You always have the numbers.”
Thomas said nothing.
Declan heard faint voices on the other end, then a door closing.
“Go home,” he said.
“I’m not leaving you alone in this.”
“You are not with me.”
“I’ve been with you since you were a boy.”
“That is not the same thing.”
Thomas’s voice lowered. “Your father trusted me when everyone else was waiting for him to fail.”
“My father is dead.”
“The company isn’t.”
“Go home.”
Declan ended the call.
At four in the morning, General Counsel Margaret Bell arrived with two associates and an expression of controlled displeasure. Margaret had represented Hale Maritime for nineteen years. She wore a charcoal suit, carried no umbrella, and never appeared rushed, even when she had been summoned from bed to manage a suspected poisoning involving the chief executive and his pregnant assistant.
“Tell me the police do not have unrestricted server access,” she said.
“They do.”
“Declan.”
“A woman was poisoned in my office.”
“A woman who is your employee.”
“And pregnant with my child.”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
The associates behind her looked anywhere else.
“You need separate counsel,” she said.
“I need Sarah alive.”
“You need both.”
Detective Moreno approached before Margaret could continue.
“Ms. Bell, I assume?”
“Margaret Bell. Hale Maritime’s general counsel.”
“Good. Your security team says one of the break-room cameras was taken offline nine days ago.”
Margaret turned to Declan.
He said, “I didn’t know.”
Moreno continued. “The maintenance request was approved by Mr. Callahan.”
“For what reason?” Margaret asked.
“Repeated network failure.”
“That camera has had network problems for months.”
“Then why was only that camera disconnected?”
Margaret looked at the detective. “I will obtain the work order.”
“We already have it.”
“From whom?”
“Your facilities manager.”
Margaret’s displeasure deepened. “Without legal review?”
Moreno gave her a tired smile. “People sometimes answer simple questions before counsel teaches them to be afraid.”
Margaret did not reply.
Moreno turned to Declan. “The camera outside the break room remained active. We’ll need time to review the footage, but preliminary access records confirm Mr. Callahan entered the executive floor most mornings between six forty-five and seven fifteen.”
“He usually starts at the harbor office,” Declan said.
“Not lately.”
Margaret touched his elbow. “We need to speak privately.”
They moved into an empty family consultation room. Margaret shut the door and waited until the associates remained outside.
“How much did you tell the detective about the freight reports?”
“Enough.”
“That is not a quantity.”
“I told her Sarah found mismatched fees.”
“Did you mention Aster?”
Declan looked at her.
Margaret’s face stayed still.
“I didn’t say Aster,” he said.
“No, but I assumed that was the report.”
“How?”
“You asked me to review the Aster freight discrepancies last week.”
“I asked Thomas.”
“He asked me.”
Declan leaned against the table.
“What did you find?”
“Nothing conclusive. Several shipments were routed through legacy vendors. The paperwork is incomplete, but incomplete paperwork is not criminal conduct.”
“Sarah believed money was being moved through environmental maintenance accounts.”
“Sarah is an excellent assistant. She is not a forensic accountant.”
“She found enough to frighten someone.”
Margaret folded her arms. “Or she was exposed through an unrelated source. Thallium is unusual, but unusual is not the same as targeted.”
“She named Thomas.”
“She observed Thomas entering a break room. That is not evidence of poisoning.”
“The camera was disabled under his authority.”
“Which is concerning. It is not proof.”
Declan looked through the narrow window in the door. Elaine sat beside Sarah’s bed, one hand covering her mouth.
Margaret followed his gaze.
“Your personal involvement makes every decision more dangerous,” she said. “To Sarah, to the company, and to you.”
“Explain how cooperating with police endangers Sarah.”
“By turning her into the center of a corporate scandal before doctors have confirmed a crime. Her medical information will leak. The pregnancy will leak. Your relationship will leak. Every employment decision involving her will be reexamined. Every person who dislikes you will decide whether she was favored, coerced, paid off, or silenced.”
“She was poisoned.”
“And if that is confirmed, we pursue it. Carefully.”
“Carefully means slowly.”
“Carefully means the difference between evidence and accusation.”
Declan stared at her.
Margaret lowered her voice. “Thomas has served your family for most of his adult life. If you accuse him tonight and you are wrong, you cannot repair it.”
“If I protect him and I’m wrong, Sarah may not survive.”
The words ended the conversation.
At dawn, the storm weakened to a steady gray rain. The city beyond the hospital windows became visible one building at a time. Declan bought coffee from a machine and forgot to drink it. A paper cup softened between his hands until the seam began to leak.
May you like
Sarah’s obstetrician arrived shortly after six. More blood was drawn. Toxicology specialists joined the team. A hospital social worker asked Declan whether Sarah felt safe at home and at work. He answered that she lived alone, then realized he did not know whether that was still true.
At seven twenty, Elaine opened the door to Sarah’s room.
