Chương 10
She stopped when she saw it.
Elias saw her shoulders stiffen.
“I’ll move it.”
“No.”
She walked past it.
“I’m not going to become frightened of shoes.”
He did not argue.
She sat carefully on the sofa.
Elias brought her medication and water.
Claire checked the label herself before swallowing the tablets.
He noticed.
She noticed him noticing.
“Trust is going to be weird for a while.”
“I know.”
“Don’t say that every time.”
“All right.”
He stood there uncertainly.
Claire looked up.
“You can sit down.”
He sat in the armchair instead of beside her.
That seemed to surprise her.
At 7:31, Matteo called again.
This time Claire activated the speaker herself.
“We found Anne Giraud.”
Elias leaned forward.
“Where?”
“Belgium.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Claire released a breath she had apparently been holding.
“Why did she disappear?”
“She didn’t disappear.”
Matteo paused.
“She changed her professional name after marrying.”
Claire frowned.
“That’s all?”
“That and she stopped working in forensic accounting.”
“Why?”
“She was threatened.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed.
“By whom?”
“She hasn’t said yet.”
“You spoke to her?”
“One of our attorneys did.”
Claire looked at Elias.
“Not one of your old people?”
“Attorney.”
“I heard.”
Matteo continued.
“She is frightened and does not want direct contact with either of you.”
“Does she know Étienne is dead?” Claire asked.
“Yes.”
“What did she audit?”
“She confirmed Étienne hired her.”
“Did she finish?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the report?”
A pause.
“She gave him two copies.”
“One digital, one paper?”
“Both encrypted digital drives.”
Claire looked at Elias.
“The USB.”
“Possibly.”
Matteo said, “She labeled one copy Delcourt.”
“And the other?” Elias asked.
Another pause.
“She says Étienne labeled it himself.”
Claire’s face drained of color.
“What word?”
Matteo answered quietly.
“Ghost.”
Elias sat back.
Claire stared at him.
“So it was Dad.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Matteo said, “Giraud claims Étienne told her the second copy was insurance.”
“Insurance against whom?”
“She doesn’t know.”
Elias said, “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It may.”
Matteo’s voice changed.
“Giraud said Étienne asked one unusual question when he hired her.”
“What?”
“He asked whether financial evidence could survive if everyone with access to the company wanted it destroyed.”
Claire covered her mouth with one hand.
Elias said nothing.
Matteo continued.
“She told him yes, if copies existed outside the company.”
“So he made one for me,” Elias said.
“Probably.”
Claire lowered her hand.
“But he never gave it to Elias.”
“No.”
“He hid it.”
“Apparently.”
“In my shoe?”
Elias shook his head.
“Your father couldn’t have known which shoes you would wear tonight.”
Claire looked toward him.
“So someone moved the drive after he died.”
“Yes.”
The room became very quiet.
Matteo said, “Which means someone knew where Étienne had hidden it.”
Claire stared toward the hallway.
Her father’s house rose in her mind again, full of rooms where childhood and betrayal had somehow occupied the same furniture.
“Pauline.”
Elias watched her.
“Why Pauline?”
“Because of the shoes.”
“What about them?”
Claire sat straighter.
“She used to steal them.”
Elias blinked.
“What?”
“When we were teenagers.”
A faint, exhausted smile crossed her face.
“She was always taking my shoes because she hated her own.”
“Claire.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“No, keep going.”
“She knew where I kept them at La Bruyère.”
“You still had shoes there?”
“Yes.”
“The pair from last night?”
She nodded.
“They were old flats.”
“So Pauline could have taken them from your room before the confrontation.”
“Yes.”
“And put the drive inside.”
Claire’s expression shifted.
“Unless Dad already had.”
Elias frowned.
“How?”
“He gave me those shoes.”
Elias went still.
Claire closed her eyes.
“It was stupid.”
“What?”
“My birthday last year.”
She looked at him.
“He gave me a box with those flats in it because I had left them at the house.”
“That was the gift?”
“No.”
“There was a bracelet underneath.”
She rubbed her temple.
“He joked that I should check my shoes before throwing old things away.”
Elias felt a chill move across his shoulders.
“What exact words?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
Claire stared at the carpet.
“He said, ‘Your generation throws away perfectly useful things without checking what’s inside.’”
She looked up.
“I thought he was teasing me because I had donated a coat with twenty euros in the pocket.”
Elias stood.
Claire watched him cross to the window.
“You think he hid it then.”
“He may have.”
“But why wouldn’t I notice?”
“Where did you keep those shoes?”
“In the closet at La Bruyère.”
“Did you wear them after your birthday?”
Claire thought.
“No.”
“They hurt.”
“So the drive could have been there for months.”
“Yes.”
Matteo spoke through the phone.
“That changes the chain considerably.”
Claire looked down at the device.
“Can Anne Giraud tell us what’s on the drive?”
“She can describe it.”
“Then have her describe it.”
“She already has.”
Matteo’s next words came slower.
“The audit identified unauthorized procurement payments, falsified collateral authorizations, and a series of transfers tied to Arden.”
Claire’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Who authorized them?”
“Credentials associated with Étienne and Viviane.”
“Associated?”
“Giraud could not establish who physically used them.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Elias heard the hesitation.
“Say it.”
“She found payments to a private intelligence firm.”
Claire frowned.
“What kind of intelligence?”
“Background investigations.”
“On whom?”
Matteo exhaled.
“Elias.”
Claire looked toward him.
Elias did not move.
“How long ago?” she asked.
“Twenty-two months.”
“That was before my father confronted him.”
“Yes.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“So Dad hired someone to investigate Elias.”
Matteo said, “Not Étienne.”
The distinction landed slowly.
Claire whispered, “Who paid them?”
“Arden.”
Elias turned from the window.
“Which means whoever controlled Arden was investigating me before Étienne knew enough to confront me.”
“Yes.”
Claire stared at the transaction chart.
“Pauline’s trust.”
“On paper.”
“But she didn’t know.”
“We don’t know that.”
Claire stood too quickly and caught the sofa arm when pain crossed her ribs.
Elias moved toward her.
She raised a hand.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
May you like
“I know.”
The words came out sharper than she intended.
