Chương 6
“My mom says you can’t visit someone sick with empty hands.”
“I’m not sick.”
Maya looked at Grace’s bruised wrist.
“Okay.”
Grace smiled.
Maya did not.
They sat in the breakfast room.
Maya kept rubbing one thumb over the seam of her uniform skirt. She had come directly from the mansion.
“Mrs. Blackwood asked me what I told police.”
Grace waited.
“What did you say?”
“That I answered their questions.”
“And then?”
“She said Mr. Feldman might need to talk to me.”
“Her lawyer?”
Maya nodded.
“Did he?”
“Yesterday.”
Grace felt anger rise too quickly.
“What did he ask?”
“If I had ever seen the balcony gate move before.”
“Had you?”
“Yes.”
Grace blinked.
Maya looked miserable.
“It opened a little two weeks ago when I was dusting. I pushed it back.”
“Did you tell Evelyn?”
“I told Mr. Connor. The maintenance man.”
“Did he fix it?”
“He looked at it. He said the top latch was worn, but the release underneath was fine.”
Grace sat very still.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the gate could shake if the latch wasn’t set, but it still couldn’t open all the way unless somebody pulled the release.”
“Did you tell the police that?”
Maya’s eyes filled.
“No.”
Grace did not speak.
Maya wiped under one eye angrily.
“Mrs. Blackwood pays for my room. It’s part of the job. My sister’s daughter stays with me three nights a week because my sister works nights. If I lose the room, I can find somewhere, but not fast. And Mr. Feldman asked if I’d taken anything from the house.”
Grace frowned.
“What?”
“He said there was expensive jewelry missing last year.”
“Was there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you take it?”
Maya looked offended.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He said he was just asking because police investigations make people remember things.”
Grace’s stomach tightened.
“That was a threat.”
Maya shook her head immediately.
“He didn’t say it like that.”
“He didn’t need to.”
Maya stared at the table.
Grace saw herself three days earlier, holding Evelyn’s sleeve.
Power did not always look like a hand opening.
Sometimes it looked like a question from a lawyer asked very politely.
“What do you want to do?” Grace asked.
Maya laughed once without humor.
“I wanted you to tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“You’re the one she tried to kill.”
“That doesn’t make me smart.”
Maya looked at her.
Grace picked at a corner of a paper napkin.
“If you change your statement because you’re afraid, you’ll have to live with that. If you tell them everything, you may lose your job and your housing.”
“That’s a terrible answer.”
“I know.”
“What would you do?”
Grace looked toward the hallway.
“I’m still deciding what I’m going to do.”
That seemed to surprise Maya.
Grace continued.
“The prosecutor is going to need me to say what Evelyn said. If I do that, the baby’s paternity becomes part of the case. Maybe not publicly right away, but eventually. People already know enough to be cruel.”
Maya’s expression softened.
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
They sat quietly.
After a minute, Maya reached into the grocery bag and took out an orange.
She began peeling it.
The smell filled the room.
“My mom also says oranges fix nerves.”
“Does it work?”
“No.”
Grace laughed.
Maya handed her half.
The next morning Maya returned to the police station and amended her statement.
Nathan found out from Ortiz.
He did not call Maya.
Grace noticed.
She did not praise him.
That was part of trying too.
Blackwood Development’s board met that afternoon.
Nathan attended remotely because his shoulder still hurt too much to wear a suit jacket.
Grace stayed upstairs.
She told herself she was not listening.
She could hear his voice through the floor.
At four-thirty he came into the bedroom and removed his tie.
“Well?”
“They want me to take a leave.”
Grace sat against the headboard.
“For how long?”
“Until the investigation is resolved.”
“That could be months.”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“Just no?”
“There were more words.”
“I assume.”
“They think the press coverage is creating uncertainty around leadership.”
“Because your mother tried to kill me.”
“They used the phrase ‘family situation.’”
Grace laughed.
Nathan did not.
“They also asked whether the paternity issue could affect the family trust.”
Grace’s laughter stopped.
“What did you tell them?”
“That the child is mine.”
The words landed strangely.
Grace looked at him.
Nathan continued before she could speak.
“I said I know what the biology says. I said I’m her father unless you decide you don’t want me to be.”
Grace swallowed.
“You said that to the board?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they asked.”
“That has never made anyone in your family answer a question honestly.”
He sat on the edge of the bed.
His shoulders dropped.
“I’m tired of being good at the wrong things.”
Grace looked away because her eyes had filled.
After a moment she said, “That was almost a speech.”
“Sorry.”
“Very Blackwood.”
“Cruel.”
“Accurate.”
He lay back carefully beside her.
They stared at the ceiling.
After a while Nathan said, “Robert didn’t leak it.”
Grace turned her head.
“How do you know?”
“He swore he didn’t.”
“That’s compelling.”
“I checked who knew after I called him.”
“And?”
“He told the board’s general counsel.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“The counsel told two executive committee members because she believed succession might become a governance issue.”
“Of course.”
“One of them told his wife.”
Grace opened her eyes.
Nathan looked at her.
“The wife has a sister who writes for the site.”
Grace stared.
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish.”
For some reason, that made Grace laugh harder than anything had since the fall.
Nathan started laughing too.
It was not funny.
That was why it became funny.
May you like
A multibillion-dollar company, generations of wealth, lawyers, directors, confidentiality agreements, and the secret had escaped through somebody’s sister because humans were humans.
When the laughter faded, Grace wiped her face.
