Chương 6
Claire said no.
Then yes.
Then no again.
Megan said she was getting on a morning train and Claire could be angry when she arrived.
The next day became paperwork.
Not drama.
Paperwork.
Police follow-up.
A hospital records release.
A call from the district attorney’s office that Nathan missed because Rose was crying.
An email from the family company requesting that Nathan attend an emergency board meeting.
Three messages from unknown numbers asking whether Evelyn Mercer had been arrested.
Claire’s name appeared online by noon.
Not in a major newspaper.
Worse.
Local gossip accounts.
A blurry photograph of a police SUV outside the coastal house.
MERCER FAMILY DRAMA?
WEALTHY MATRIARCH QUESTIONED AFTER DOMESTIC INCIDENT.
Claire stared at the screen.
Nathan took the phone from her hand.
“Don’t read that.”
She snatched it back.
“Don’t take things from me.”
He froze.
“Sorry.”
Megan, sitting at the kitchen island with coffee, watched them both.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.”
Claire gave her a look.
Megan raised both hands.
“I said nothing.”
She had arrived wearing jeans, a wrinkled sweater, and the expression of someone prepared to fight a private army.
Rose seemed to like her.
Within twenty minutes, Megan had changed a diaper faster than Nathan and criticized the design of the diaper pail.
“Why does a trash can need an app?”
“It doesn’t,” Claire said.
“Good. I thought I was becoming old.”
Nathan’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“Board.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Go.”
“I can stay.”
“Go.”
He hesitated.
Megan stared at him.
Claire said, “Nathan, I mean it.”
He picked up his jacket.
At the doorway, he stopped.
“The detective may call.”
“I can answer a phone.”
“I know.”
Megan looked down into her coffee to hide a smile.
Nathan noticed.
“Something funny?”
“A little.”
Claire said, “Go to work.”
He left.
Megan waited until the front door closed.
“You two are a disaster.”
“Thank you.”
“I mean specifically.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Do you want to leave him?”
Claire stared at her.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“My mother-in-law tried to take my baby yesterday.”
“And your husband hid an investigation from you.”
“He didn’t hide an investigation.”
“Claire.”
“He suspected something for one day.”
“That’s still a day.”
Claire stood and walked to the sink.
Outside, palm fronds moved in the sea wind beyond the veranda.
“I don’t know.”
Megan did not push.
That was new.
When they were girls, Megan could keep pressing an argument after everyone else forgot what it had been about. Claire once locked herself in a bathroom for forty minutes because Megan insisted she admit that the family dog preferred her.
Now Megan only said, “Okay.”
Claire turned.
“You’re improving with age.”
“I’m conserving energy.”
Detective Ortiz called at ten fifteen.
She had news.
The hospital had found a nurse who remembered Evelyn bringing paperwork to Claire’s room. The nurse had not read the documents, but she remembered asking whether they were medical forms. Evelyn had said they were family insurance forms and that Claire’s husband had approved them.
Nathan had not.
The ticket had been purchased through the Mercer family travel office forty-eight hours earlier. The account had been authorized by Evelyn.
The recorder was stranger.
It belonged to Daniel Price.
Claire sat down.
“Her lawyer?”
“Not exactly her personal lawyer, but yes, the family counsel.”
“Why was his recorder in her suitcase?”
“We’re working on that.”
“Did he record her?”
“He says he uses it for dictation and meeting notes. He reported it missing two weeks ago.”
Claire stared at the ocean.
“Do you believe him?”
Ortiz paused.
“I believe the device is his.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I know.”
Claire appreciated that.
Ortiz continued, “There’s something else. Your husband’s signature appears on one page.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“He told me.”
“Good. We’re having it examined. It may have been copied from another authorization.”
“May have?”
“I’m not going to tell you we know something before we know it.”
“What happens to Evelyn?”
“She was booked overnight on allegations related to the documents. Her attorney is arranging release conditions. That doesn’t mean anyone has proved the full story yet.”
Claire looked toward the nursery.
“Can she come here?”
“Her current release terms say no contact with you, Nathan, or Rose and no entry onto your property.”
Claire exhaled.
She had not realized she was waiting for that answer.
Ortiz said, “Mrs. Mercer has retained separate criminal counsel.”
“Daniel isn’t representing her?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“That’s a question for Mr. Price.”
Claire almost called him.
Instead she waited.
For once, she waited because she chose to.
Nathan came home after lunch.
He looked as if he had aged since breakfast.
“How bad?” Claire asked.
He loosened his tie.
“I’m on leave.”
Megan whistled.
“Paid?”
Nathan looked at her.
“What?”
“I’m trying to establish the scale of the tragedy.”
Claire almost laughed again.
Nathan did.
This time he let himself.
Then he sat.
“The board says because the family office may have been used, they need an independent review.”
“Reasonable,” Claire said.
“Yes.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I’m not.”
“You sound angry.”
“I am.”
“At them?”
“At myself. At her. At the fact that half the board has known me since I was twenty-three and today they spoke to me like I was a legal exposure.”
Megan sipped coffee.
“You are.”
Nathan looked at her.
She shrugged.
“Sorry. Still true.”
Claire said, “Megan.”
“No, she’s right,” Nathan said.
Megan pointed at him.
“Stop doing that. She hates it.”
For the first time in two days, Claire laughed hard enough to hurt.
Nathan smiled.
Then his face collapsed.
He covered his eyes with one hand.
Claire stopped laughing.
“What?”
He lowered his hand.
“My signature is on a document used to try to take our daughter.”
“It was copied.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
“Do you remember signing it?”
“No.”
“Then stop borrowing guilt from facts we don’t have.”
He looked at her.
May you like
The sentence surprised both of them.
Claire folded her arms.
