Chương 6
“Dad?”
“Who else?”
“I had twenty-six years of experience.”
“No. You had twenty-six years of being his son.”
The distinction stopped him.
Vanessa pressed both palms against the table.
“He liked you. He respected you. He thought I was something he was storing until he found the correct husband.”
Adrian opened his mouth.
She cut him off.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Vanessa looked at the invoice.
“I loved Daniel.”
The sentence was so simple that Adrian nearly missed it.
Mara looked down.
Peter pretended to read another page.
Vanessa laughed, embarrassed by her own tears.
“That sounds ridiculous now.”
“No,” Adrian said.
“Yes, it does.”
She wiped under one eye.
“He had grease under his fingernails all the time. He chewed ice. He thought the Mets were going to win every year no matter what evidence existed. He hated olives. Once we drove forty minutes because he claimed there was a diner in Montauk with the best pancakes in New York and when we got there he admitted he had never been there.”
Adrian watched her.
Thirty-two years vanished from her face.
Then returned.
“I gave him the ring because I was an idiot,” she said.
“Why that ring?”
“Because Dad cared about it.”
Adrian almost smiled despite himself.
Vanessa saw.
A short, miserable laugh escaped her.
“There. You understand that part.”
“You wanted to hurt Dad.”
“I wanted to prove he didn’t own every object in the house.”
“So you gave away a ring that belonged to him.”
“Yes.”
“To Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“And had it engraved.”
“Yes.”
“Then told Dad Daniel stole it.”
Vanessa’s face shut.
The room returned to the present.
Adrian waited.
“Vanessa.”
“He found out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“Maybe someone saw us.”
“Who?”
“I said I don’t know.”
Mara spoke.
“What happened the night Daniel was injured?”
Vanessa turned toward her.
“I’m talking to my brother.”
Mara closed the folder.
“Your brother asked me to determine whether the Vale Foundation has exposure arising from a historical false statement involving a deceased employee. That includes understanding what happened.”
Vanessa smiled coldly.
“You enjoy this?”
“No.”
“You always wanted me gone.”
“No.”
“Please. I’ve watched you for nine years.”
Mara looked tired.
“Mrs. Vale, you once refused to approve my maternity leave replacement because you said the office could ‘absorb my absence organically.’ I have reasons not to send you Christmas cards. None of them involve Daniel Bell.”
Peter looked intensely interested in a staple.
Adrian rubbed his forehead.
“Vanessa.”
She looked away.
“Dad confronted me that afternoon.”
“May sixteenth?”
“No. June third. The night of the accident.”
“How did he know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Fine. What did he say?”
Vanessa stared at the tabletop.
“He called Daniel trash.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
“He told me Daniel was using me. He said people like that always knew which door to come through.”
Mara’s eyes flicked up.
Vanessa continued.
“I said Daniel loved me. Dad laughed.”
Her mouth twisted.
“He asked if Daniel loved me enough to lose his job. Then he called security.”
Adrian sat forward.
“Why?”
“To have him removed.”
“Daniel lived in staff housing.”
“Dad fired him.”
“That afternoon?”
“That night.”
“And the theft allegation?”
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
Adrian waited.
She stood.
He knew the movement.
He had seen it their entire childhood: Vanessa approaching the edge of an answer and physically leaving before she reached it.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Did Dad ask about the ring?”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
She looked at the windows.
“That I didn’t know where it was.”
“Vanessa.”
“I don’t remember.”
The lie exhausted him.
Adrian closed the file.
“Leave.”
She turned.
“What?”
“Go home.”
“Adrian.”
“I said go home.”
Her chin lifted.
“You’re choosing that woman over your sister.”
“No.”
“Really?”
“I’m choosing the possibility that our father lied about a dead employee over pretending he didn’t because that’s easier for you.”
“You think she didn’t lie? She admitted signing a false statement.”
“Yes.”
“Taking money.”
“Yes.”
“Hiding evidence.”
“Yes.”
“And you trust her?”
Adrian looked at the ring.
“No.”
Vanessa seemed relieved for half a second.
Then he said, “That’s why we’re checking.”
She put on her sunglasses.
At the door, she stopped.
“You know what Dad would say about this.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“That I’m embarrassing the family.”
Vanessa waited.
Adrian picked up the incident report.
“He’d be right.”
She left.
At noon, Adrian called Ruth.
She answered on the sixth ring.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Bell. Adrian Vale.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“You called yesterday.”
“I didn’t.”
“Your woman did.”
“Mara.”
“Yes.”
He paused.
“I’d like to see you.”
“No.”
“I found something.”
Ruth was silent.
Then: “What?”
“I’d rather discuss it in person.”
“That’s how people get you into insurance offices.”
He almost laughed.
“I can come to you.”
Another pause.
“No lawyers.”
“I may need—”
“No lawyers in my apartment.”
“Mara?”
“She can come.”
He looked at Mara.
She shrugged.
“Three o’clock?”
“I have to go to the pharmacy.”
“Four?”
“I watch Jeopardy at seven.”
“We’ll be gone.”
“You don’t know how long I talk.”
He smiled despite himself.
“Four.”
Ruth hung up without saying goodbye.
Her apartment was in a six-story brick building in Jackson Heights above a Colombian bakery.
Adrian had not been inside a home like it in years.
Not poor enough to be picturesque.
Not renovated enough to be fashionable.
Just old.
A narrow hallway, radiators painted too many times, a kitchen floor patched near the refrigerator with a square of vinyl that did not match.
Ruth opened the door wearing gray pants and a yellow cardigan.
Without the wet coat and ballroom chandeliers, she looked smaller.
Adrian found that unsettling.
Nora stood behind her.
She did not offer to shake his hand.
“This is my granddaughter.”
“We spoke briefly last night,” Mara said.
Nora nodded.
“I yelled at you.”
“You were polite compared with several board members.”
Ruth stepped aside.
“Shoes.”
Adrian looked down.
“Take them off.”
He did.
May you like
Mara did too.
Nora tried not to smile.
