Part 12
Nora checked the accounts. “The foundation hold remains. His trust assets are already pledged. What else does he control?”
Edward looked toward the corridor.
“The boat,” he said.
Grant’s sailboat was moored at the estate dock during summer but stored inland for winter. It was valuable, though nowhere near enough to solve the deficiency.
Nora said, “He cannot transfer title before morning without leaving a record.”
Edward gave her a weary look. “You still believe records prevent people from doing foolish things.”
“No. I believe they make foolish things harder to deny.”
Claire went to find Grant.
Nora remained with Edward.
For the first time that night, they were alone.
He looked at the scratch on her cheek again. “I am sorry.”
She waited.
“I am sorry he did that,” Edward said. “I am sorry Claire helped him. I am sorry I built a structure in which both of them believed protecting this house was the same as protecting the family.”
Nora touched the ring on her finger.
Edward noticed.
“Do you want me to ask whether you are ending the engagement?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She looked at him.
“I have asked enough questions tonight whose answers were obvious.”
Nora slid the ring free.
A pale indentation remained around her finger.
She placed the ring on the closed laptop.
Edward stared at it.
“He chose it himself,” he said.
“I know.”
“He spent three months pretending not to ask me what you liked.”
Despite herself, Nora smiled faintly. “He asked Claire.”
“Claire told him you hated large stones.”
“I do.”
“He was offended by the idea that restraint might cost as much as excess.”
The smile disappeared as quickly as it came.
Edward touched the ring with one finger but did not pick it up. “He loves you.”
Nora looked toward the open doorway.
“Maybe,” she said.
“That does not excuse anything.”
“No.”
“I was not suggesting it did.”
“I know.”
Edward leaned back. “Love is not especially useful evidence of character. People use it to justify whatever they were already inclined to do.”
Nora thought of the private company, the opened envelope, Grant’s hand around her wrist.
She also thought of him outside the hospital when her father had undergone surgery two years earlier, waiting in a plastic chair through the night and bringing her coffee exactly the way she liked it without asking.
Both memories were true.
Only one could guide what she did next.
Edward said, “Will you remain financial director through the disclosure?”
Nora looked at him. “You should suspend me.”
“Why?”
“I was engaged to the person who committed the breach. I failed to report the first access alert. I chose not to require a systemwide reset because I did not want to create trouble for Grant.”
Edward’s face tightened. “You did not know.”
“I suspected enough to ask him.”
“He lied.”
“I accepted it.”
“That is not misconduct.”
“It is a conflict that affected my judgment.”
“You found the transfer.”
“After a grant failed.”
“You preserved the evidence.”
“After the money moved.”
“You are not responsible for his actions.”
“No. I am responsible for mine.”
Edward looked at her for a long time.
Then he nodded.
“I will recommend administrative leave pending board review.”
“Thank you.”
“You may not thank me when they accept.”
“They should.”
“You sound relieved.”
“I am tired of being the person in the room who has to decide whether your family’s feelings are a financial risk.”
Edward almost smiled.
“I imagine that has been exhausting.”
“It has had moments.”
They sat in silence.
Rain tapped the windows. Somewhere farther down the corridor, Claire called Grant’s name once. There was no answer.
At six ten, Nora found him in the library.
He stood behind the antique desk with both hands resting on its surface. The open recovery drawer remained beside him. The phone he had used to manage the transfers lay face down near the blotter.
He had put his tie back on.
The detail disturbed her more than if he had been disheveled. Grant dressed for control the way other people reached for a drink.
He looked at her bare left hand.
“Where is it?”
“With your father.”
His eyes moved away.
Nora remained near the doorway.
“You are afraid of me now,” he said.
“Yes.”
The directness startled him.
“I would not hurt you.”
“You already did.”
“I mean seriously.”
She felt something cold pass through her.
Grant seemed to hear it, too. He rubbed his forehead. “That came out wrong.”
“It came out accurately.”
“I lost control for a moment.”
“You drove from Boston because Claire told you I found the transfer.”
“I panicked.”
“You entered the house, crossed the hall, took my arm, pulled me into this room, demanded my password, and stood over me while I was on the floor. That was several moments.”
“I did not plan to touch you.”
“But you planned everything else.”
He looked at the open drawer.
Nora walked no farther into the room.
“Why did you need my password?” she asked.
“To release the hold.”
“You could not release the hold from my credentials alone. It required my security key.”
“I did not know that.”
“You thought a password would be enough.”
“Yes.”
“What would you have done after I gave it to you?”
“Returned the queued estate transfer.”
“And the foundation funds?”
“Kept them in place until the replacement financing closed.”
“So you wanted my credentials to make the theft appear as though I approved it.”
“No.”
“The release would have been logged under my account.”
“I would have explained.”
“To whom?”
“The board, if necessary.”
“As a shared decision?”
Grant’s silence answered.
Nora nodded slowly.
He moved around the desk but stopped when she stepped back.
“I would not have blamed you.”
“You would have made me part of it.”
“To protect the foundation.”
“To protect yourself.”
“To protect us.”
“There is no us.”
May you like
His face tightened as if she had struck him.
Nora hated that she still felt the reflex to soften the sentence.
