Chương 15
Two attorneys and a forensic engineer sat across from Mara in a conference room with no windows. A court reporter recorded every word. Dana sat beside her and occasionally touched a pen to the table when Mara began answering more than was asked.
Mara admitted signing the memo.
She admitted pushing the schedule.
She admitted failing to contact regulators immediately after finding the first altered file.
“Why did you delay?” one attorney asked.
“I wanted to understand what happened.”
“Did you also want to protect Mr. Ashcroft?”
“Yes.”
“Because he was your fiancé?”
“Yes.”
“Because your mother owed money to an Ashcroft entity?”
Mara’s throat tightened. “That was part of the pressure.”
“When did you first perceive the loan as pressure?”
She thought of Julian standing in the parking garage.
“When he reminded me of it during an argument in May.”
“What were his exact words?”
“He said my family had accepted his family’s help and I should consider that before embarrassing them.”
“Did he explicitly connect the loan to Seabridge?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten foreclosure?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you to falsify a document?”
“He asked me to sign a statement I believed was false.”
“Did he call it false?”
“No.”
“Did he explain his interpretation?”
“Yes.”
“Could reasonable professionals disagree about that interpretation?”
“The dates do not have opinions.”
The attorney looked toward the forensic engineer.
The engineer asked, “Are you qualified in digital document forensics?”
“No.”
“Then on what basis did you conclude the date was intentionally altered?”
“The visible date changed while the file creation record did not.”
“Could that result from conversion, migration, or template replacement?”
“Possibly.”
“So your conclusion was preliminary.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you accused Mr. Ashcroft’s family of changing evidence during dinner.”
“I asked why the date had changed.”
The engineer turned a page.
“You also said, ‘You used my memo.’ Who is ‘you’?”
“The company leadership.”
“Not specifically Julian?”
“He was part of it.”
“Based on what direct evidence?”
Mara looked at Dana.
Dana’s face gave nothing away.
“Based on his knowledge of the versions,” Mara said. “His pressure on me to sign the revised statement. His involvement in the schedule. His reaction when I said I would bring the files to investigators.”
“His reaction being the glass incident?”
“Before the glass.”
“But you interpreted everything after the glass through that event, correct?”
“No.”
“You became frightened.”
“Yes.”
“Angry.”
“Yes.”
“Your engagement ended.”
“Yes.”
“And you now believe the company’s technical conclusions were affected by your former fiancé’s character.”
Mara felt heat rise beneath her collar.
“No. I believe his character affected how he responded to technical conclusions he disliked.”
The court reporter’s hands continued moving.
The distinction mattered.
Whether anyone else would hear it, Mara could not know.
At the end of the interview, the attorneys asked for the pendant.
Mara had brought it in a small padded envelope.
The silver surface had been cleaned, but a faint mark remained near the recessed button.
She placed it on the conference table.
The lead attorney photographed it beside a ruler.
“Who gave this to you?”
“Lena Brooks.”
“When?”
“June third.”
“Why?”
“Because of an incident in the parking garage.”
“Did you intend to record the Seabridge dinner when you accepted it?”
“No. The dinner had not been scheduled.”
“When did you decide to wear it?”
“The afternoon of the dinner.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian had insisted our phones be removed and because Henry told me he was worried about the meeting.”
Dana turned sharply. “Henry told you that?”
Mara looked at her.
She had omitted it.
The attorney noticed.
“When did Mr. Sloan tell you?”
“Two days before dinner.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“He said Evelyn believed a family setting would make me more receptive. He said I should not sign anything without independent review.”
“Did he advise you to record the meeting?”
“No.”
“Did you tell him you had the pendant?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Mara looked at the small silver object under fluorescent light.
“Because I was ashamed that I needed it.”
After the interview, Dana waited until they reached the elevator before speaking.
“You withheld a relevant conversation.”
“I forgot.”
“You remembered it under questioning.”
“Then I didn’t withhold it.”
“You understand the difference between forgetting and avoiding?”
“Yes.”
“Do you?”
The elevator descended.
Mara watched the numbers change.
“Henry’s warning made me feel stupid,” she said. “I didn’t want you to know I went anyway.”
Dana pressed the lobby button, though it was already lit.
“You are going to lose credibility if you keep editing yourself into a cleaner witness.”
“I’m not trying to look clean.”
“You are trying to look consistent. Humans are not.”
The doors opened.
In the lobby, Henry stood beside a column holding his hat.
He had agreed to be interviewed after Mara.
When he saw them, he nodded.
Dana walked past without greeting him.
Mara stopped.
“Did you tell them about the warning?” she asked.
“I intend to.”
“Why didn’t you tell Dana you warned me?”
“I assumed you had.”
“That assumption helped you.”
Henry accepted the criticism.
Mara looked at the hat in his hands. It was a soft brown felt hat, oddly old-fashioned.
“My wife bought it,” he said.
“I didn’t ask.”
“No.”
He turned it once by the brim.
“She died eight years ago. She disliked the Ashcrofts.”
Mara almost laughed. “You waited until now to tell me?”
“She believed Evelyn mistook loyalty for ownership. I told her that was an uncharitable simplification.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
The lobby doors opened as a group of employees entered from the street. Henry stepped aside.
“I kept thinking there would be a moment when my influence became useful,” he said. “A clear line I could prevent them from crossing.”
“The glass?”
“The glass was only the first line they crossed where I could no longer pretend not to see it.”
Mara looked at him.
“What about Mateo?”
Henry’s gaze dropped.
“Yes,” he said. “What about Mateo.”
May you like
He entered the elevator.
The doors closed between them.
