Chương 7
“I didn’t approve that.”
Sarah sat upright in bed. “You need to call your lawyer.”
“I don’t have one.”
“I told you to get one.”
“I thought you were trying to scare me.”
“I was trying not to.”
Elena began crying, not loudly, but with breathless irritation, as though tears were another problem Sarah had caused.
“My credentials are on twelve reports,” she said. “Maybe more. They showed me three.”
“Who showed you?”
“Federal agents.”
“Then you should not be talking to me.”
“They asked whether I gave you my password.”
Sarah closed her eyes. “What did you say?”
“The truth.”
“That you kept it under your keyboard?”
“That you stole it.”
The word struck harder than Sarah expected because it was accurate.
“Yes,” she said.
“You could have ruined my life.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t. You married into that family. You had somewhere to land.”
Sarah looked around the anonymous bedroom. “Elena—”
“My name is on buildings where people could have died.”
“I didn’t put it there.”
“You used my account. How do I prove which access was you and which wasn’t?”
Sarah had no answer.
Elena breathed into the phone. “They offered me a lawyer through the company.”
“Do not use Hale Meridian’s lawyer.”
“You don’t get to advise me.”
“You’re right.”
“Stop saying that.”
“What should I say?”
“I don’t know.”
They remained connected in silence for nearly a minute. A truck passed below Sarah’s window. Somewhere in Elena’s home, a dog scratched at a door.
Finally Elena said, “Denise reset my password two years ago.”
Sarah sat still. “Why?”
“She said there had been a security alert. She called me instead of IT and asked for my old password so she could confirm the account.”
“Did you give it to her?”
“I was late for a flight.”
“Do you have the email?”
“It was a phone call.”
“Any message afterward?”
“I don’t know.”
“Look, but don’t send me anything. Give it to your lawyer.”
“I said I don’t have one.”
“Then call Lila. I’ll pay if I ever have money again.”
Elena laughed once through her tears. “That’s a terrible offer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
The next day, Lila arranged independent counsel for Elena through a nonprofit legal program. Elena stopped speaking to Sarah after that, which Lila said was appropriate.
Appropriate felt a great deal like abandonment.
Three weeks after the raid, Beatrice appeared in the lobby of Sarah’s building.
She wore a camel coat over a pale dress, dark glasses, and the same expensive heels she had worn in the bathroom. The security guard called upstairs and said Sarah’s mother-in-law claimed there was a family emergency.
“There is always a family emergency when Beatrice isn’t admitted somewhere,” Sarah told him.
“Should I ask her to leave?”
Sarah looked at the monitor. Beatrice stood beside a potted plant, perfectly still while two residents passed behind her carrying grocery bags.
“Send her up.”
Lila would be furious. Marcus would describe the decision as a security failure. Sarah understood both reactions before pressing the elevator release.
Beatrice entered the apartment and surveyed the furniture with a faint tightening around her eyes.
“So this is where they put you.”
“This is where I live.”
“No one lives among that much gray by choice.”
Sarah did not offer coffee.
Beatrice removed her glasses. Without makeup, she looked older than she had in the bathroom, though not softer.
“I came alone,” she said.
“I assume Hal Brenner is parked nearby.”
“He no longer works for us.”
“What happened?”
“He misunderstood the meaning of discretion.”
“That sounds expensive.”
“It was.”
Beatrice sat without invitation. She placed her handbag upright beside her feet.
“Vance is not allowed to speak to you,” she said.
“I know.”
“He wants you to understand that what happened was—”
“Careful.”
Beatrice stopped.
Sarah remained near the kitchen counter. “You can lie for yourself. You cannot carry his messages.”
“He is my son.”
“That isn’t an exemption.”
For a moment Beatrice’s face held something close to hatred. Then it passed.
“Arthur believes the company can survive if the family stops creating additional damage.”
“The company certified dangerous homes as safe.”
“You do not understand emergency contracting.”
“Neither did the families living in those homes.”
“Records are rarely as simple as they appear.”
“You sound like the press statement.”
Beatrice glanced toward the balcony. “Arthur is prepared to restore your salary for twelve months and establish a separate account in your name.”
Sarah laughed, surprised by how little humor it contained. “In exchange for what?”
“No exchange.”
“Then transfer it.”
“There would be a written understanding regarding confidential family matters.”
“There it is.”
“It would not interfere with the federal investigation.”
“Who decides what counts as interference?”
“Lawyers.”
“Arthur’s lawyers.”
“Competent lawyers.”
Sarah moved to the table and sat across from her. “Did you know Vance was going to confront me that night?”
“I knew he was upset.”
“You stood behind him while he dragged me across the floor.”
“I told him to calm down.”
“No. You told me to stop provoking him.”
Beatrice’s fingers shifted on the clasp of her handbag.
Sarah continued. “You moved your feet so the glass wouldn’t scratch your shoes.”
“That is not relevant.”
“It is to me.”
Beatrice looked toward the green mug in the drying rack. “You always collected ugly things and expected people to praise your independence.”
Sarah felt the old impulse to defend her taste, her job, her marriage, her tone. She let the impulse pass.
“Why did you come?”
Beatrice’s jaw tightened. “Because Arthur is not well.”
“What does that mean?”
“He is not sleeping. His blood pressure is unstable.”
“Then he should see a doctor.”
“He may be charged.”
“Yes.”
“You say that as though it gives you pleasure.”
“It gives me a fact.”
Beatrice leaned forward. “This family gave you everything.”
“No. This family kept receipts for everything.”
May you like
The silence after that was so complete Sarah could hear the refrigerator cycle off.
Beatrice looked down at her hands. Her wedding ring was a wide band of diamonds, impossible to ignore.
