Chương 11
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know more than that.”
“Lauren, I have told you enough to ruin me.”
“You ruined yourself before I called.”
The words came out louder than she intended.
June watched from across the table, her face unreadable.
Daniel said, “Robert showed me the real deed that night.”
Lauren gripped the phone.
“He told me he had transferred the mansion to a trust for you. He said he would record it in the morning. He said he had proof of the money Mother moved and that he planned to call federal investigators.”
“What money?”
“I don’t know the total.”
“From where?”
“Investor escrow accounts.”
Lauren looked at June.
Daniel continued, his voice lower.
“He accused her of moving funds between projects to cover shortages. I told him he was wrong. He gave me the red book and said the account numbers were inside. He wanted me to look for myself.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I left it on the desk.”
“Ana found it on the floor.”
“I dropped it.”
“Why?”
“Because he said something about my father.”
Margaret’s husband, Henry Hayes, had died when Daniel was nineteen. The official story had always been a heart attack during a business trip.
“What did he say?”
“That Mother had done the same thing before. That she moved money from one company to save another and let my father take the blame when auditors found it.”
“Was that true?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never checked?”
“I didn’t want to.”
Lauren closed her eyes.
There it was again. Not ignorance. Refusal.
“What happened after you dropped the book?”
“Robert told me to leave. I did.”
“And Peter recorded the forged deed ten days later from the mansion.”
“I didn’t record it.”
“Did you give him access?”
“My mother did.”
“Did you stop him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because by then Robert was dead, the company was failing, and I had convinced myself the house should have been ours.”
Lauren heard his breath catch.
“That is the truth,” he said. “It is ugly, but it is the truth.”
“Where is the red book?”
“I think Mother hid it in the house.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
June took the phone.
“Daniel, this is June Park. You need independent criminal counsel. Peter cannot represent you on this matter.”
Peter called five minutes later and accused June of interfering with his attorney-client relationship.
June smiled for the first time in days.
“He’s scared,” she said after hanging up.
“So am I.”
“That doesn’t make you the same.”
Lauren looked at the gate logs.
“Can we search the house?”
“Not without consent or a court order, and we do not yet have enough to demand a search for a notebook Margaret denies possessing.”
“She admitted Peter took it.”
“Peter denies receiving it.”
“Someone is lying.”
“Several people are lying. That is not yet a location.”
The practical problem remained the same: ten days would pass quickly.
The original deed appeared authentic, but Peter claimed Robert revoked it. The recorded deed was plainly defective, yet the Hayes family asserted that a valid earlier agreement supported the transfer. The mansion’s title might remain tied up for months or years. Meanwhile, the company’s debt could drag the property into further litigation.
Daniel’s proposed escrow loan returned in a revised form.
June hated it less.
An independent restructuring manager would control the money. No funds could be used for distributions, legal fees, or related-party payments. The mansion would secure only a limited amount, and the lender would acknowledge the title dispute.
Lauren still refused.
Then Melissa from payroll called.
Lauren almost did not answer.
Melissa’s voice was embarrassed.
“I know I shouldn’t contact you.”
“Did Daniel ask you to?”
“No. He told us not to.”
“What happened?”
“The payroll account is short.”
“How short?”
“Enough that Friday is a problem.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means some people may not be paid.”
“Did the company send money anywhere this week?”
“I can’t discuss records.”
“You just called me about payroll.”
“I called because my team thinks the owner’s family is fighting over a house while they decide which of us misses rent.”
“I don’t own the company.”
“Your name is on half the foundation materials, the holiday party emails, the scholarship program, and the employee assistance fund. You were family when that helped the company.”
Lauren sat on the edge of Mara’s sofa.
“What do you want from me?”
“I want to know whether we should start telling people to look for work.”
The question was not fair. That did not make it meaningless.
“I don’t know,” Lauren said.
Melissa was quiet.
“Thank you for not lying.”
After the call, Lauren walked to a coffee shop three blocks away. She ordered tea, forgot to take it from the counter, and had to return when the barista called after her. She sat beside the window while rainwater dripped from the awning in steady lines.
Mara joined her before work, wearing navy scrubs beneath a puffy coat.
“You look like someone trying to solve a moral problem on no sleep,” she said.
“Employees may miss payroll.”
“Daniel sent them to you?”
“Melissa called.”
“Does helping them help him?”
“Yes.”
“Does refusing hurt them?”
“Yes.”
“That’s irritating.”
Lauren stirred tea she had not sweetened.
“My father would have funded payroll.”
“Your father also hid a financial crime from you because he preferred being the smartest person in the room.”
“He was trying to protect me.”
“Everybody in this story is protecting you. You should be extremely nervous.”
Lauren looked at her cousin.
Mara removed the lid from her coffee and blew across the surface.
“You keep asking what Robert would do,” she said. “He is not the one who has to live with it.”
“If I agree to the loan, I risk the house.”
“Do you want the house?”
The question felt almost offensive.
“It’s mine.”
May you like
“That is not what I asked.”
Lauren watched a bus stop at the corner. People boarded with their shoulders hunched against the wind.
