Part 2
“The necklace.”
“The police have it.”
“Vivian?”
“At the estate.”
“Did she come with us?”
“No.”
Elena closed her eyes again. This time she was not unconscious. Adrian could tell by the way her mouth tightened.
“She let go,” Elena said.
“I saw.”
“No. You saw me fall.”
“I saw enough.”
“She didn’t push me.”
Adrian’s hand loosened around hers.
“You’re defending her?”
“I’m telling you what happened.”
“You’re telling me the part that helps her.”
Elena opened her eyes. “I was pulling.”
“And she knew you were standing at the edge.”
“I don’t know what she knew.”
“I do.”
“You were twenty feet away.”
“I saw her face.”
“So did I.”
He stood and walked to the window, though the blinds were closed. The movement was too controlled. Adrian became careful when he was furious. He straightened objects. He lowered his voice. He once ended a construction partnership by placing three folders into a precise row and asking his partner which lie he wanted to discuss first.
“What did you see?” Elena asked.
He looked back at her.
“I saw her watch you fall.”
There were two detectives in the corridor, along with a uniformed officer and a hospital administrator whose badge had turned backward on its clip. Adrian had spoken with them while Elena was being scanned. He had described the staircase, the position of the women, the jewelry case, and the moment Vivian released it. He had refused to guess whether she intended Elena to fall.
That refusal had cost him more effort than he admitted.
The detectives waited until Elena was fully alert and the physician approved a brief interview. Adrian remained beside her. He answered only when she looked to him.
Detective Miriam Cole spoke gently without sounding soft. Her partner, Daniel Kerr, wrote in a small black notebook and rarely lifted his eyes.
“Tell me why you were on the landing,” Cole said.
Elena stared at the blanket across her knees. “I followed Mrs. Ashcroft upstairs.”
“Why?”
“She had something that belonged to my mother.”
“The necklace?”
“Yes.”
“Did she take it from you?”
“Not that night.”
“Then where did she get it?”
Elena hesitated.
Adrian noticed. So did both detectives.
“It had been stored at the estate,” Elena said. “For years.”
“Who owned it?”
“My mother did.”
“At the time of her death?”
“I believed so.”
Detective Cole leaned slightly forward. “Do you believe something different now?”
Elena looked at Adrian.
He had known the question was coming. He had hoped she would be too tired to notice its shape.
“What haven’t you told me?” she asked.
The detectives exchanged a glance.
Adrian returned to his chair. “Vivian’s attorney gave the police a copy of a deed of gift. Your mother transferred the necklace to the foundation twelve years ago.”
Elena said nothing.
“There may be restrictions,” he continued. “The copy is incomplete. I haven’t seen the full document.”
“You knew there was a deed?”
“I knew there might be.”
“Before tonight?”
He rubbed one thumb against the edge of his wedding ring.
“Elena.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
The monitor beside her continued its measured beeping. Somewhere down the hall, a cart rattled over a threshold.
Elena turned her face away from him.
The detectives ended the interview soon afterward. Cole left a card on the bedside table and asked Elena not to discuss the details publicly until they had reviewed the estate’s security footage and interviewed the guests. She also warned that memory after a concussion could be incomplete.
“I remember the sentence,” Elena said.
“What sentence?”
“Vivian said, ‘Not anymore.’ Then she let go.”
Cole wrote it down.
Adrian waited until the door closed.
“I was going to tell you.”
Elena kept looking toward the wall.
“When?”
“After the gala.”
“That is not a time. That is an excuse dressed as a time.”
“You were already convinced she stole it.”
“She hid it.”
“She may have hidden foundation property.”
“You knew I planned to confront her.”
“I asked you not to.”
“You said it would embarrass the donors.”
“It would have.”
She turned back then, slowly because her neck hurt.
“That was not the reason.”
“It was one of them.”
“What was the other?”
Adrian sat with his elbows on his knees. For several seconds, he looked at the floor.
“Vivian came to my office last month,” he said. “She wanted a short-term loan.”
“For what?”
“The foundation.”
“How much?”
“Two million dollars.”
Elena forgot her pain long enough to stare at him.
Adrian owned a regional development company that restored coastal properties and converted old commercial buildings into mixed-income housing. He was successful, but not careless with money. Two million dollars was not an amount he could move without attorneys, lenders, partners, and questions.
“She said state reimbursements were delayed,” he continued. “The Harbor House program was running out of operating cash. Payroll, leases, insurance. She wanted the loan secured by the necklace and part of the foundation’s investment account.”
“Could she do that?”
“Not legally by herself.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“No.”
“Did you tell the board?”
“No.”
Elena watched him.
“Why not?”
“She said she would bring it to the finance committee. I gave her forty-eight hours.”
“And?”
“She said the matter had been handled.”
“You believed her?”
“No.”
“But you did nothing.”
“I requested the foundation’s audited statements.”
“As my husband or as a lender?”
“As someone who knew the board chair was trying to pledge an heirloom without board approval.”
“You still did not tell me.”
“You were preparing the memorial exhibition. You had spent months working with her. I wanted facts before I put another knife into that relationship.”
Elena laughed once and regretted it when pain tightened beneath her ribs.
“You protected me so well I ended up unconscious.”
Adrian absorbed the sentence without defending himself.
May you like
At seven in the morning, Vivian issued a statement through her attorney.
The statement described the incident as a tragic accident during a private family disagreement. It said Vivian was devastated by Elena’s injuries and cooperating fully with authorities. It asked the public to respect the privacy of everyone involved and not speculate about an upsetting event.
