Chương 6
She sat on the edge of the bed.
Thomas continued, “Vivienne told her lawyer she takes a prescription sleep medication. She says she may have handled her pill before dinner and touched the saucer.”
“That sounds impossible.”
“It sounds weak.”
“But not impossible?”
“Nora, I’m telling you what she said.”
“Did she explain why she brought the cup from the sideboard?”
“She says a server handed it to her there.”
“Has the server confirmed that?”
“No one remembers.”
Of course they did not. There had been fourteen staff members working the dinner, each carrying trays through candlelight while wealthy people failed to look at their faces.
“Are you at Bellwether?” Nora asked.
“Yes.”
“With her?”
“She’s in the north wing.”
“Have you spoken to her?”
“Only with her lawyer present.”
“That must have been strange.”
“It was.”
He paused.
“I miss you,” he said.
Nora looked toward the hallway. Elliot was telling Elise that his bathwater was too warm in the grave tone of someone reporting a municipal failure.
“I miss you too,” she said.
It was true, which made everything worse.
The state laboratory confirmed five days later that the tea contained a prescription sedative.
Calder would not identify the medication over the phone. He asked Nora to meet him at the sheriff’s office with Thomas and Rebecca present. Vivienne and her attorney would be interviewed separately.
The conference room smelled of copier toner and old coffee. A paper turkey left from a school visit had been taped to one wall.
Calder explained that the concentration was consistent with more than incidental contact.
“What would it have done?” Nora asked.
“We’re waiting for a toxicologist’s formal interpretation, particularly regarding pregnancy. I don’t want to speculate.”
“Could it have hurt the baby?”
“I can’t answer that responsibly.”
Thomas shifted beside her.
Nora placed her hands beneath the table so no one would watch them move toward her belly.
Calder continued. “The same medication is prescribed to Ms. Vale. Pharmacy records show she filled the prescription eleven days before the dinner.”
Rebecca closed her notebook. “How did you obtain her pharmacy records?”
“Through legal process.”
“Has she admitted placing the medication in the tea?”
“No.”
“What is her explanation?”
“You’ll need to ask her attorney.”
Thomas spoke for the first time. “Is she being arrested?”
“Not today.”
Nora turned toward him. “Why not?”
Calder looked at her without irritation. “We have evidence that she switched the cups. We have evidence that the cup placed near you contained medication prescribed to her. We do not yet have evidence showing how it entered the tea, who prepared the tea, or what she intended. We are building a case, not an argument.”
The distinction embarrassed Nora. She had wanted speed because speed felt like safety.
Calder asked whether either of them knew of a reason Vivienne might want Nora impaired during dinner.
Thomas stared at the table.
Nora felt the air change.
“What?” she said.
Thomas rubbed the back of his neck. “Vivienne and I argued that afternoon.”
“About me?”
“About the prenuptial agreement.”
Nora’s body went cold.
Their prenup had not been romantic, but it had not been hostile. Bellwether House, the foundation, and several family trusts required separate representation. Nora’s attorney, Marisol Greene, had requested standard financial disclosures. Thomas had agreed without complaint.
“What did Vivienne say?” Calder asked.
“She said the disclosures were invasive. She wanted the wedding postponed until after the annual foundation review.”
“Why?”
“She said the staff was overwhelmed.”
Rebecca’s expression remained neutral, but one finger stopped against the edge of her notebook.
Calder noticed. “Ms. Lin?”
“The annual review should not interfere with marital disclosures.”
“Did you tell Mr. Vale that?”
“I was not aware Ms. Vale had raised the issue.”
Nora turned to Thomas. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It seemed like family noise.”
“She wanted you to postpone our wedding.”
“She wanted the paperwork delayed.”
“That’s not what you just said.”
Thomas’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t think it mattered.”
“It matters now.”
Calder let the silence settle.
“Did Ms. Vale make any other remarks about Ms. Hale?” he asked.
Thomas looked at Nora before answering.
“She said I was moving too quickly because of the baby.”
Nora’s face burned.
“What exactly did she say?”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“You remember.”
He looked away.
“Thomas.”
“She said I was allowing urgency to replace judgment.”
Nora laughed softly.
The phrase sounded like Vivienne. Controlled, polished, cruel enough to deny.
Calder asked, “Did she express concerns about Ms. Hale’s health, medication use, or alcohol use?”
“No.”
Nora remembered a dinner two months earlier when Vivienne had watched her decline wine.
“You’re being very disciplined,” Vivienne had said.
At the time, Nora had assumed she meant the pregnancy.
Now the sentence returned with a different shape.
After the meeting, Nora and Thomas stood beside their cars in the sheriff’s office parking lot. A cold rain had begun, collecting on Thomas’s dark hair.
“You kept that argument from me,” Nora said.
“I forgot it.”
“No. You filed it under family noise.”
“That’s fair.”
“I don’t need you to agree with my wording. I need you to understand what it means.”
He pushed wet hair from his forehead. “It means I’ve spent my life deciding which things Vivienne says are real problems and which are just pressure.”
“And you decided a request to postpone our wedding wasn’t real.”
“She didn’t have the authority to postpone anything.”
“She had access to my cup.”
Thomas looked as if she had shoved him.
Nora regretted it, then decided not to apologize.
“I don’t know how to do this,” he said.
“Neither do I.”
“Every time I try to explain my relationship with her, you hear a defense.”
“Because you only explain it when she needs defending.”
“That’s not true.”
“Tell me something about her that isn’t meant to make me doubt what happened.”
He opened his mouth, then stopped.
Rain darkened the shoulders of his coat.
May you like
Nora got into her car.
He stood in the parking lot until she drove away.
