Chương 5
“Emma asked why Daniel didn’t go to jail.”
Claire’s expression changed.
“She knows about him?”
“She knows his name.”
“You told her?”
“She asked.”
“And what did you say?”
“That he did bad things.”
Claire closed her eyes again.
Nathan knew the next question before she asked it.
“Did you tell her what you did?”
“No.”
“Of course not.”
Nathan pulled his hand away.
Claire didn’t stop him.
The monitor beside the bed continued its steady rhythm.
After a while, Claire said, “I remember his cuff.”
Nathan looked back.
“What?”
“Daniel.”
She stared toward the ceiling.
“He used to adjust his right cuff whenever he lied.”
Nathan remembered.
Daniel Cross had owned a collection of custom shirts and behaved as if cuff links were a matter of national security.
Claire whispered, “I saw him Thursday.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“At the office?”
“I don’t know.”
“In the garage?”
“I said I don’t know.”
Nathan stood.
Claire flinched.
He immediately sat again.
“Sorry.”
“I remember burgundy.”
Nathan went still.
“What?”
“A suit.”
Claire’s breathing changed.
“He was wearing a burgundy suit.”
A pulse of cold moved across Nathan’s shoulders.
Daniel owned one.
Nathan had mocked it once during a board retreat in Napa.
Daniel had replied that most powerful men wore gray because they were terrified of being remembered.
Claire looked suddenly frightened.
“Nathan.”
“I’m here.”
“He said something to me.”
“What?”
She pressed her fingers against her temple.
“I can’t—”
“Don’t force it.”
“You were just forcing it.”
“I know.”
“That was quick growth.”
He almost laughed.
Claire did, weakly.
Then her face folded with pain and she pressed a hand to her ribs.
Nathan stood, reaching for the call button.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“Stop answering everything literally.”
The door opened before he could call anyone.
Emma stood there with James behind her.
For a moment Claire and Emma only looked at each other.
Then Emma walked quickly across the room.
She stopped before reaching the bed.
Nathan watched her decide whether her mother looked breakable.
Claire lifted one arm.
Emma climbed carefully onto the edge of the mattress.
She did not cry.
She pressed her face into Claire’s shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry I threw the tray.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Was it the good silver?”
Nathan stared at her.
Emma nodded solemnly.
“The big one.”
Claire kissed her hair.
“Then I’m a little proud.”
Nathan said, “That tray cost four hundred dollars.”
Both of them looked at him.
He heard himself.
“Never mind.”
Emma made a tiny laughing sound into Claire’s gown.
The laugh hurt Claire’s ribs, which made Claire laugh too, which hurt more.
A nurse eventually came in and told all three of them to stop behaving badly.
For five minutes, the room felt almost normal.
Nathan sat by the window while Emma explained the tray from her perspective, which included the important detail that she had aimed away from Victoria because she “was mad but not a criminal.”
Claire nodded as if this distinction mattered legally.
James stood near the door.
At one point he caught Nathan’s eye.
The quiet moment ended.
Something had happened.
Nathan stepped into the corridor with him.
James handed over a tablet.
“Hospital security found this.”
The video had no sound.
Time stamp: 8:41 p.m.
A corridor on the private wing.
Double doors opened.
Daniel Cross walked through them.
He wore a deep burgundy suit.
Black shirt.
Black tie.
His dark hair was brushed away from his face exactly as Nathan remembered. He moved without hurry. A nurse standing near a medication station glanced at him, then looked again.
Daniel stopped beneath the fluorescent lights.
He adjusted his right cuff.
Nathan’s stomach tightened.
The video ended.
“When was this?” he asked.
“Twenty-two minutes before Mrs. Cole’s medical event.”
“How did he get into the wing?”
“They don’t know yet.”
“He didn’t sign in?”
“No.”
“Other entrances?”
“Employee access only.”
Nathan handed the tablet back.
“Where is he now?”
“Unknown.”
A woman in navy scrubs approached from behind James.
Nathan recognized her vaguely from the nursing station.
“Mr. Cole?”
“Yes.”
She looked uncomfortable.
“I’m Evelyn Cho. I was at the desk earlier.”
Nathan glanced at James.
James nodded once.
Nathan turned back to her.
“You saw Daniel Cross?”
“I didn’t know his name then.”
“What happened?”
“He came through the service doors. I assumed he was with administration because he was dressed like—”
She stopped.
“Like money?” Nathan asked.
Her mouth twitched.
“Basically.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing. He stood there for a minute. He was on his phone.”
“Did you hear him?”
She looked toward Claire’s closed door.
“One sentence.”
Nathan waited.
Evelyn tucked a loose strand of hair behind one ear.
“He said, ‘Tell Nathan his wife survived… and she finally remembered my name.’”
The corridor seemed to tilt.
James’s expression did not change.
Nathan asked, “Who was he talking to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he say anything else?”
“Not that I heard.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“I’m a nurse, Mr. Cole. I don’t tackle strangers in hallways.”
Nathan immediately regretted the question.
“You’re right.”
She looked surprised.
“I’m sorry.”
Evelyn nodded.
Then she left.
Nathan leaned against the wall.
James stood beside him.
After several seconds, Nathan said, “You ran Cross after we fired him.”
“Yes.”
“Where did he go?”
“Singapore first. Then London. After that his movements were less clear.”
“And when he returned?”
“I wasn’t aware he had.”
Nathan turned.
“You weren’t aware.”
James looked directly at him.
“No.”
“You’re my security chief.”
“Yes.”
“You monitor threats.”
“Yes.”
“And you missed him.”
James’s jaw moved once.
“Yes.”
Nathan wanted an excuse.
Something about jurisdiction, resources, private citizenship, databases, legal boundaries.
James gave him nothing.
Nathan looked away.
“Why?”
“You told me three years ago to close the Cross file.”
Nathan turned back.
James continued.
“You said he was no longer our problem.”
Claire had said almost the same thing.
Not about Daniel.
May you like
About Nathan.
You keep believing problems stop existing when you stop looking at them.
