Chương 7
He had not said that was their first meeting.
She called him.
He answered on the second ring.
“Claire.”
“How many times did you meet my father?”
Silence.
“Three.”
She closed her eyes.
“You said he asked you to meet him.”
“He did.”
“You let me assume that was the only time.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was telling the story badly.”
“No. You were managing it.”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
“What happened the other two times?”
“The first time was at the project site. He confronted me about the report.”
“And the second?”
“At his office.”
“When?”
“About two weeks before he died.”
“What did he want?”
“The same thing. For me to cooperate.”
“Did Victoria know about that meeting?”
“I don't know.”
Claire looked at her father's email.
“He wrote that he had met with you again.”
“Who did?”
“My father.”
Ethan's voice sharpened.
“Where are you?”
“At Mom's.”
“Claire.”
“Don't start.”
“Are you on his computer?”
She hated how quickly he had guessed.
“Yes.”
“You need to call Reyes.”
“I found an email, not a body.”
“Call her.”
“You don't get to tell me what to do.”
“No, I don't.”
His voice softened.
“But your father may have been documenting a fraud investigation before he died. Don't alter anything.”
“I know how computers work.”
“I know.”
“Stop being reasonable.”
“I don't know what else to be.”
Claire leaned back in the chair.
The anger went out of her suddenly.
“What happened at his office?”
Ethan inhaled.
“He showed me a list of six projects.”
“Crestview plus five others?”
“Yes.”
“He had evidence?”
“He said he did.”
“Did you see it?”
“I saw copies of internal testing reports. At least two looked different from versions I'd seen through work.”
“Different how?”
“Numbers changed.”
Claire felt a chill.
“Who changed them?”
“I don't know.”
“Ethan.”
“I don't know.”
“Did your boss?”
“Maybe. Mercer had access. So did Hale. So did people at Marston.”
“Anyone else?”
“Dozens.”
That was less satisfying than a villain.
Real systems always were.
Too many hands.
Too many people with partial responsibility.
“What did Dad want from you?”
“He wanted me to explain the field procedures and identify which reports I'd signed.”
“And you refused again.”
“Yes.”
“Why did he keep asking?”
“Because he thought I'd change my mind.”
“Did you?”
A long silence.
“Eventually.”
Claire sat forward.
“When?”
“The night he died.”
Everything in her stopped.
“You told me you didn't agree.”
“At the restaurant I told him I needed time.”
“You just said—”
“I called him after he left.”
Claire stood so quickly the chair rolled backward.
“You called him?”
“Yes.”
“You said you never spoke again.”
“I lied.”
The word was plain.
Claire's entire body seemed to vibrate.
“Why?”
“Because that call is the part that could make his death my fault.”
Claire gripped the desk.
“What did you say?”
“I told him I would testify.”
She closed her eyes.
“Then why would that make his death your fault?”
“Because I also told him Victoria had threatened me.”
“What threat?”
“She said if I cooperated, she'd make sure every project I had ever touched was investigated and that the firm would blame me for the falsified work.”
“That sounds like something police should know.”
“They know now.”
“What else?”
“She knew about my younger brother.”
Claire frowned.
“Mark?”
“No. Aaron.”
Claire knew Ethan had a brother who died young. He rarely discussed him.
“What about Aaron?”
“He was in rehab.”
Claire sat slowly.
“Victoria told me she knew where he was. She implied reporters could find out, that his arrest history would become public, that my parents would lose their house defending me if lawsuits started.”
“Did she threaten to hurt him?”
“No.”
That mattered.
Even now.
“She threatened to destroy your life.”
“Yes.”
“And you told Dad.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He said we should go to the police.”
Claire could almost hear him.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him I would meet him the next morning.”
“And then?”
“He never got there.”
Claire ended the call.
She did not trust herself to speak.
She called Reyes.
The detective arrived with a digital forensics technician that evening.
Claire showed them the email archive.
Reyes listened without comment when Claire admitted Ethan had withheld information.
“He's given us a revised statement,” she said.
“When?”
“This morning.”
Claire stared.
“He told you before he told me.”
“He has counsel. His lawyer advised him to correct his earlier interview.”
“Good for his lawyer.”
Reyes looked at her.
“You're allowed to be angry with him.”
“Thank you for the permission.”
“That wasn't what I meant.”
“I know.”
Claire rubbed her eyes.
“Sorry.”
“Don't apologize to me.”
The technician disconnected the old computer tower.
Claire felt unexpectedly protective.
“Are you taking it?”
“Yes.”
“That was my father's.”
“We'll return it.”
“When?”
“I can't promise a date.”
Claire almost argued.
Then imagined her father watching her defend a twenty-year-old Dell tower while police investigated his death.
He would have made fun of her for months.
“Fine.”
Before leaving, Reyes asked whether Daniel had used any other storage.
“External drives? CDs? Cloud accounts?”
Ellen appeared at the basement stairs.
“He hated the cloud.”
Reyes looked up.
“He said it was paying someone else to lose your files.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
“That sounds like him.”
Ellen came down.
“He backed things up on little USB drives.”
“Do you have them?”
“I thought they were in the missing box.”
Reyes asked, “Anywhere else he kept important things?”
Ellen laughed softly.
“In places he thought were clever.”
Claire turned.
“What does that mean?”
“He hid cash in a cereal box once.”
“Why?”
“He didn't trust banks during the 2008 crash.”
Claire stared at her mother.
“You let me eat from that box.”
“It was sealed in a plastic bag.”
“That's not the point.”
Reyes almost smiled.
“What other hiding places?”
Ellen shrugged.
“Garage. Workshop. Inside books.”
May you like
Claire and her mother spent the next morning looking.
Not because Reyes asked them to.
