Part 5
“My shoes are in there.”
“They’ll send the shoes.”
“My father’s pocketknife is in the inside compartment of my backpack.”
Elaine went quiet.
“It has a two-inch blade,” Nora said. “It’s a tool. I use it to open boxes in my apartment.”
“Why was it in a museum locker?”
“Because I forgot it was in my bag.”
“Nora.”
“I’m telling you before someone else finds the ugly part.”
Elaine did not understand the reference. “I’ll notify security.”
The belongings arrived at six in two sealed plastic bags. Nora’s uniform had been placed in one of them. The silver pin was not attached. She found it wrapped separately in tissue paper, as though it were a damaged piece of jewelry.
She put it in the kitchen drawer beside Denise’s takeout menus.
The next morning’s interview lasted three hours and nineteen minutes.
Two outside attorneys questioned Nora by video. Dana attended but spoke only twice. They asked about her employment history, her father, her knowledge of the Vale family, her interactions with Arthur, her training in physical intervention, and whether she had ever expressed hostility toward wealthy patrons.
“I work at a museum gala,” Nora said. “I’ve expressed hostility toward canapés.”
One attorney did not smile.
The other asked her to describe the room.
Nora closed her eyes and saw it more clearly than she wanted: Arthur’s wheelchair angled toward the central column; Claire two steps behind him, holding the tablet; the champagne flute on the pedestal to Victoria’s right; Malcolm beyond the first ring of guests; the dark doors behind Victoria; Nora herself near the sculptural display with the staff pin catching chandelier light.
She described the positions.
“How many inches separated Ms. Vale’s hand from Mr. Vale’s face when you caught her wrist?”
“Maybe eight.”
“Earlier you said several.”
“Eight is several.”
“Could it have been twelve?”
“Yes.”
“Could it have been four?”
“Possibly.”
“Could she have stopped herself?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how can you say contact was imminent?”
“Because her hand was moving.”
“People stop moving hands.”
“Not always in time.”
“Did you consider speaking before touching her?”
“I did speak.”
“Before touching her?”
“No.”
“So you acted without warning.”
“I acted before she hit him.”
The attorney leaned closer to the camera. “You keep stating that as fact.”
Nora felt irritation sharpen her voice. “Because it happened.”
Dana’s eyes lifted from her notes.
The attorney said, “Contact did not occur.”
“Because I stopped it.”
“That is an inference.”
“No. It is the reason.”
The interview ended with instructions not to contact witnesses.
Ten minutes later, Malcolm Reed called.
Nora watched his name appear on her screen. She let it ring until it stopped.
He called again.
She answered. “Dana said not to speak to you.”
“She said you should not contact me. She did not say I had lost the ability to use a telephone.”
“That sounds like something Arthur would say.”
“It sounds like something Arthur said to me.”
Nora walked to the window. Below, a delivery truck blocked traffic while a man carried boxes into a florist.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“To apologize.”
“For putting me on leave?”
“I did not make that decision.”
“For letting it happen?”
“Yes.”
The answer unsettled her more than a defense would have.
Malcolm continued, “You should not have been the first person to move.”
“I was the closest.”
“You were not.”
Nora remembered the guests around the pedestal.
“No,” she said. “I wasn’t.”
“I saw Victoria raise her hand. I believed she would stop.”
“So did everyone.”
“I was wrong.”
The florist below dropped a box. White tissue paper spread across the sidewalk.
Nora said, “Did Arthur change the trust because of her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I can’t discuss the contents.”
“She tried to hit him over it.”
“I know.”
“You told her he controlled every board seat.”
“He does, until the appointments are accepted.”
“Were the trustees arriving to accept them?”
“Yes.”
“Did they?”
Malcolm did not answer immediately.
“No.”
Nora turned from the window.
“Why not?”
“The incident complicated the question of Arthur’s independence.”
“Her trying to hit him made them doubt him?”
“Her allegation that the gala confrontation was staged made them cautious.”
Nora laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Staged by whom?”
“Me, according to Victoria.”
“And me?”
“You are supposedly a vulnerable employee persuaded to create a public incident that would discredit her.”
“That is insulting in two directions.”
“I’m aware.”
“Do you believe her?”
“No.”
“Do the trustees?”
“They believe accepting appointments while a challenge is imminent could damage the foundation.”
“So they’re waiting.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“A capacity assessment. Review of the amendment. Witness interviews.”
“While Victoria does what?”
“Challenges all of it.”
Nora leaned against the wall. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you are already inside it.”
“I’m on leave outside it.”
“You are the only person who physically prevented contact. That makes your credibility central.”
“Then maybe stop your lawyers from asking whether I hate rich people.”
“They are not my lawyers.”
“You’re chairman.”
“Of a board that has recused itself from investigating its chairman.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes,” Malcolm said. “And necessary.”
She looked toward the kitchen drawer where the pin lay hidden.
“Did Arthur ask me to misdirect Victoria because you told him to?”
“No.”
“Did you know he asked?”
“No.”
“He told me to send her to the east gallery.”
Malcolm went quiet.
“He apologized when I said I wouldn’t,” Nora added. “Then I lied to her anyway.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid of what she’d do if she found him.”
“That may be difficult to explain.”
“It was difficult while I was doing it.”
“I believe you.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“No,” Malcolm said. “It may not.”
He asked if she had retained an attorney. She had not. He gave her the name of an employment lawyer unconnected to the museum and told her the foundation would pay reasonable fees through an independent fund.
May you like
“That sounds like buying my cooperation,” Nora said.
“It is intended to prevent your financial vulnerability from buying your silence.”
