Part 9
“What did you call it?”
“Nothing. That was part of the problem.”
Claire stirred her coffee though she had added nothing.
“Why were you hiding?”
“I came to bring the drive. Vivian said she was ending everything. She wanted the records gone before the audit committee reviewed year-end expenses.”
“Was there an audit scheduled?”
“Routine review. Daniel had started asking questions about change orders. Not because he suspected us. He thought I was overextending the company.”
“So you went to the library.”
“She told me to use the west corridor. We argued. I said I wouldn’t destroy the files unless she put in writing that she approved the charges.”
“That seems late for ethics.”
“It was self-preservation.”
“At least that sounds true.”
“She heard someone coming and told me to get out of sight. The window seat was open because she had stored event linens inside. I climbed in.”
“You sent Daniel a fake photograph from Vermont.”
“Vivian told me he had asked whether I was coming to dinner. She said I needed an alibi.”
Claire leaned back.
“Then I entered.”
“Yes.”
“She accused me to protect you.”
“To protect herself.”
“What was the plan if I hadn’t opened the lid?”
“I was supposed to leave through the service stairs after dinner began.”
“And the drive?”
Evan looked at her.
“I slid it into a crack behind the compartment lining when I heard Daniel enter.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because Vivian thinks it’s still in my possession. If she finds it, it disappears. If you retrieve it—”
“No.”
“It can clear you.”
“It can implicate me in stealing evidence from a house after I was suspended.”
“It isn’t stealing. I own the drive.”
“The files belong to the foundation.”
“Then give it to Bernard.”
“You give it to him.”
“I can’t get back into the house.”
“That sounds like one consequence of hiding in furniture during a donor dinner.”
Evan’s eyes reddened.
“I have two employees with children. If the foundation freezes payments, my company collapses.”
“You falsified invoices.”
“Some.”
“Enough.”
“I can repay part.”
“With what?”
He looked away.
Claire felt no pity at first. Then she noticed his hands. The nails were split, and a healing cut crossed one knuckle. He had done restoration work himself when the company could not afford enough labor. He had also cheated a nonprofit and betrayed his closest friend. Both facts occupied the booth without canceling one another.
“Does Vivian love you?” Claire asked.
Evan gave a small shake of his head.
“Do you love her?”
“I wanted to be the person she chose when she had choices.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Claire took out her phone.
“I’m calling Bernard. You can tell him where the drive is.”
Evan reached across the table, then stopped before touching her.
“If I do that, I lose everything.”
“You already made that decision. You just didn’t know when the bill would arrive.”
His face changed. Anger appeared, weak but real.
“You think you’re different because you opened a lid?”
“No.”
“You came back to this estate because you had nowhere else to go. You work for Vivian. You live in her building. Everyone in that family compromises. Some of us are simply worse at pretending it’s tradition.”
Claire wanted to leave.
Instead, she said, “Why did I leave Philadelphia?”
“What?”
“You seem to know.”
“I heard there was a problem at the museum.”
“From Vivian?”
“She said you mishandled an acquisition.”
Claire laughed once.
There it was. Vivian’s version, neat and useful.
“A donor grabbed me at a reception,” Claire said. “I reported him. The museum investigated for three weeks and decided he had been confused because he was old. My supervisor told me I was making future donations uncomfortable. I quit.”
Evan stared at her.
“I didn’t mishandle anything.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“No.”
“Neither did my family. Vivian offered me this job before I told them why I left. Accepting was easier than explaining.”
Evan lowered his gaze.
Claire dialed Bernard.
When he answered, she said, “I’m with Evan Price. He wants to report evidence in the library.”
Evan closed his eyes.
Bernard was silent long enough to communicate several opinions.
“Put him on speaker,” he said.
Evan described the flash drive’s location. Bernard asked specific questions: when the files had been copied, whether originals remained, whether any documents were altered, who had access, whether the device contained personal information, and why it had been hidden.
Evan answered most. On the affair, he said only that Vivian had instructed him to come privately.
Bernard did not push.
“I am contacting counsel,” he said. “Neither of you will return to the estate. Mr. Price, preserve every device and account. Do not contact Mrs. Hale. Do not contact employees. Do not delete anything.”
“What about the drive?” Evan asked.
“We will arrange retrieval with the property owner’s consent and witnesses.”
“Vivian won’t consent.”
“The property owner is Eleanor Mercer.”
Claire almost smiled.
Bernard continued, “Ms. Mercer, I advised you not to meet Mr. Price.”
“You did.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“Offer payment?”
“No.”
“Ask you to retrieve the device?”
“Yes.”
“Did you agree?”
“No.”
“Good. Leave the diner. Send me a written account.”
“I’m becoming very good at written accounts.”
“That may prove professionally useful.”
Bernard hung up.
Evan remained in the booth.
Claire stood.
“What happens to Daniel?” he asked.
“You should have considered him before asking me.”
“I considered him every day.”
“That somehow makes it worse.”
Outside, the fog had lifted. A hard blue sky spread over the highway, bright enough to hurt Claire’s eyes after the dim diner.
Daniel’s car was parked beside hers.
He stood against the driver’s door, wearing yesterday’s trousers and a navy coat over the gray sweater. He looked as though he had not slept.
Claire stopped.
Evan emerged behind her.
Daniel looked at him.
May you like
No one spoke.
Cars moved along the highway. A delivery van pulled into the diner lot and parked badly across two spaces. Somewhere near the kitchen vent, grease crackled.
