Chương 4
“I need you to let them do that.”
“My wife may have been poisoned inside your hospital.”
Dr. Patel’s expression did not move.
“We are aware.”
Nathan heard himself becoming louder.
“I don’t think you are.”
Alvarez pulled out a chair and sat opposite him.
“I think they are. I also think there’s a seven-year-old girl twenty yards from here who has had a very bad night, and you are going to need enough control left to be her father when you walk back into that room.”
Nathan looked at her.
The anger did not disappear.
It became embarrassing.
He rubbed the edge of his watch with his thumb.
It was something Claire had complained about for years.
Whenever Nathan was afraid, he polished invisible dirt from whatever expensive object happened to be closest.
Phone.
Watch.
Pen.
Cuff link.
Anything except the fear itself.
He stopped touching the watch.
“What do you need from me?”
Alvarez opened a notebook.
“Start with Daniel.”
Nathan looked at her sharply.
“Claire said the name?”
“Hospital security was told she did.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“Daniel Cross.”
“Who is he?”
“He used to be chief financial officer at Cole Meridian.”
“How long ago?”
“Three years.”
“Why did he leave?”
Nathan did not answer immediately.
Alvarez noticed.
“So that’s complicated.”
“Yes.”
“How complicated?”
Nathan stared at the table.
“There was an internal investigation.”
“Into what?”
“Vendor payments. Related-party transactions. Some accounting irregularities.”
“Did you report them?”
“No.”
Alvarez did not react.
That was worse.
“What happened?”
“We terminated him.”
“Did he receive severance?”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“That is confidential.”
Alvarez closed the notebook.
Nathan looked at her.
She looked back.
After several seconds, he said, “One point eight million.”
Dr. Patel looked away.
Alvarez opened the notebook again.
“Why pay a man you believed had committed financial misconduct?”
“We had an IPO process beginning. There were disputed facts. The board wanted the matter resolved.”
“The board.”
Nathan heard Claire’s voice in that phrase.
Not Alvarez’s.
Claire had said it exactly that way three years earlier.
The board.
A convenient creature that could make decisions without any single human being having to admit they had made them.
Alvarez asked, “Was your wife involved?”
“She was on the foundation committee that first questioned the transactions.”
“Did she want Cross reported?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
Nathan looked through the small window in the conference-room door.
A nurse passed carrying folded blankets.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed terminating him and recovering company funds was enough.”
“Was it?”
Nathan almost smiled.
There was nothing funny about it.
“No.”
Claire was awake when Nathan entered her room.
She looked annoyed.
Relief hit him so violently he had to stop just inside the door.
Claire noticed.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“That face.”
“What face?”
“The funeral face.”
Nathan let out a breath.
“I don’t have a funeral face.”
“You absolutely do.”
Her voice was thin, but it was hers.
Nathan crossed the room.
He stopped beside the bed.
For the first time in twenty-four years of knowing each other, he did not know whether he should touch her.
Claire solved it by lifting two fingers.
He took her hand.
Her skin was cool.
“You scared Emma.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“She recorded Victoria.”
Claire’s eyes opened again.
“I know.”
“You heard it?”
“Most of it.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Claire stared at him.
Nathan waited.
Then he sighed.
“Right. Because I would have filled the room with people.”
“And lawyers.”
“And James.”
“And three specialists nobody asked for.”
Nathan looked down.
“I asked if I should come today.”
“I was wrong.”
“You were nearly killed.”
“Maybe.”
“Claire.”
“I don’t know what happened.”
“You told Emma Victoria changed your medication.”
“I think she did.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire’s fingers tightened weakly around his.
“She came here.”
“I know.”
“She brought flowers.”
Nathan glanced toward the windowsill.
A vase of white lilies sat there.
He hated lilies.
Claire hated them more.
“You don’t like lilies.”
“I know.”
“Then why would she—”
“She knows.”
Nathan looked at the flowers again.
Claire watched him.
“She stood there,” Claire said. “Right where you’re standing.”
He moved without thinking.
Claire almost smiled.
“Very brave.”
“Not the time.”
“It’s never the time with you.”
He sat.
“What happened?”
Claire looked toward the door.
“When she first came in, I thought I was imagining things. I’ve been imagining things.”
“What things?”
“Yesterday I thought the television anchor was talking to me personally.”
Nathan waited.
Claire rubbed one thumb over his knuckle.
“I didn’t tell you.”
“I wish you had.”
“That’s why I didn’t.”
He let that pass.
“She asked how much I remembered from Thursday. I said not much. Then she asked if I remembered Daniel.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her no.”
“But you did?”
“No.”
Claire swallowed.
“Not then.”
Nathan leaned closer.
“What changed?”
“Her face.”
“Victoria’s?”
“She relaxed.”
Nathan sat back.
Claire continued.
“It was tiny. But she was relieved.”
“What happened after?”
“A nurse came in. Victoria moved out of the way. There was some confusion about my medication. The nurse said something had been changed in the system. Victoria said she would give us privacy.”
“But she didn’t leave?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You don’t think?”
Claire shut her eyes.
“I was tired.”
Nathan tried not to press.
He failed.
“Claire.”
“I’m telling you what I know.”
“I need details.”
“Of course you do.”
He heard the anger underneath her exhaustion.
She opened her eyes again.
“I woke up later and she was near the counter.”
“What counter?”
“The one by the sink.”
“Doing what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was she touching anything?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was a nurse there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she—”
“Nathan.”
He stopped.
Claire looked at him for a long time.
“You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Turn terror into a deposition.”
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Claire’s face softened slightly.
“I’m not blaming you.”
“You should.”
May you like
“That sounds useful.”
He looked away.
