Chương 7
“I am certain about eight-thirty this morning. I make no promises about lunch.”
Claire nodded.
Mrs. Colby looked at the fading marks on Claire’s wrist where Evelyn’s ring had scraped her.
“The counselor will speak with you too.”
“I’m not the child.”
“No. You are the adult who has to help her understand what happened.”
Claire left through the back door and found Julian waiting beside her car.
He wore the same tuxedo trousers from the gala beneath a camel coat. His face was gray with fatigue.
“You can’t be here,” Claire said.
“I’m not contacting you for Mom.”
“You are always contacting me for your mother.”
He looked toward the school windows.
“How is Lily?”
“She has bruises.”
“I saw the photographs in the police report.”
“How?”
“Our attorney received them.”
“Of course.”
Julian rubbed his jaw. “Mom’s wrist is fractured. She’ll need a cast.”
“I’m sorry she was hurt.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“I’m sorry she fell. I’m sorry Lily saw it. I’m sorry I slapped her. Choose the apology you came for.”
“I didn’t come for an apology.”
“Then why are you here?”
He looked around the nearly empty parking lot as though a better answer might be painted on the lines.
“The blue binder is missing from the house.”
Claire felt her body become still.
“You knew about it?”
“I knew Adrian kept records.”
“Evelyn took it from my desk.”
“Mom says she never saw it.”
“Do you believe her?”
Julian did not answer.
A delivery van passed on the street. Its brakes squealed.
“Who leaked the photograph?” Claire asked.
“We don’t know.”
“Naomi?”
“I doubt it. Naomi doesn’t leak. She waits until everyone else has made mistakes and then invoices them.”
“You sound fond of her.”
“I’m not.”
“What did Adrian understand, Julian?”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Westmere was failing. If it collapsed when it did, lenders could have called loans across the company. Facilities might have been sold. Mom believed the reserve transfer would last ninety days.”
“Did Adrian approve it?”
“The first one.”
Claire had expected the answer. It still landed badly.
“And the others?”
“He said no.”
“Then why are his initials beside them?”
“Some are authorization codes. Some were copied. I don’t know which.”
“You expect me to believe you never checked?”
“I checked enough to know there is no clean version of this.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Did Evelyn falsify his approval?”
Julian’s eyes moved toward the school again.
“She told legal that Adrian had authorized continuation.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the answer I can give you.”
“Because you’re protecting her?”
“Because eighteen hundred people receive paychecks from Harrow Living. Because residents gave us deposits they expect returned. Because our lenders are already nervous. Because if you throw half-documented accusations into public, the people who suffer first will not be sitting in our ballroom.”
“She used resident money to rescue a luxury development.”
“She believed she was rescuing the whole company.”
“And Adrian?”
“He believed her at first.”
Claire stared at him.
Julian’s mouth tightened.
“He signed,” he said. “Then the losses got worse. Mom moved more. Adrian wanted to disclose. They fought. Naomi left. Everyone started protecting a different piece of the truth.”
“What were you protecting?”
“My brother.”
“You let the company blame him after he died.”
“I kept his name out of the internal report.”
“You kept the report private.”
“Yes.”
“His name stayed clean because no one knew what happened.”
Julian flinched.
Claire had rarely seen him angry. He did not raise his voice now, but color rose along his neck.
“You think I enjoyed any of this? Adrian was taking pills again.”
The school parking lot seemed to tilt.
“He was sober.”
“He told you he was sober.”
“He was tested at work.”
“He stopped using prescriptions from his doctor.”
Claire’s hands went cold.
Julian looked ashamed, though whether for the revelation or for withholding it she could not tell.
“I found him in the executive washroom six months before the crash,” he said. “He could barely stand. Mom got him home. No report. No board notice. No treatment record the lenders could find.”
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“Why would she hide it and then use it against him?”
“Because that is how Mom loves people.”
The sentence left them both silent.
Julian took an envelope from his coat.
“Adrian wrote this to me. I found it after he died.”
Claire did not take it.
“What is it?”
“Not proof. Not enough. But you should read it before you decide he was framed.”
“Why now?”
“Because Mom’s offer expires tomorrow.”
“You know about the offer.”
“I helped draft it.”
Claire laughed once, without humor.
“There you are.”
“Take the letter.”
“Did you copy it?”
“Yes.”
“Did Evelyn see it?”
“No.”
“How do I know that?”
“You don’t.”
Claire took the envelope.
Julian stepped back.
“Please don’t release anything tonight.”
“You came to frighten me.”
“I came because Adrian spent the last year of his life trying to choose between telling the truth and preventing a collapse. He failed at both. Don’t turn him into a hero because you need one.”
Claire held the envelope against her coat.
“And don’t turn Evelyn into a savior because you need a mother.”
Julian looked as if she had struck him too.
He walked away without another word.
Claire read Adrian’s letter in her car.
Jules,
I signed the first transfer. No one forced my hand. Mom said it was temporary, and I wanted to believe her because the alternative was admitting I had helped approve a project that could damage the company. I told myself I was protecting residents and employees. Mostly I was protecting my position.
May you like
The second transfer was not mine. Neither was the third. She used my approval as a bridge and then decided every road belonged to her.
I started using again after Naomi left. That is not Mom’s fault. Hiding it was her decision. Letting her hide it was mine.
