Chương 6
Nathan put both hands in his pockets.
“Find him.”
James was silent.
“What?”
“I can find what I can legally find. So can the police. But you need to decide something.”
“Which is?”
“Whether you want Daniel located or whether you want Daniel located without anyone discovering why you let him walk away three years ago.”
Nathan stared at him.
James’s face remained controlled.
There were days Nathan hated competent people.
This was one of them.
“Everything,” Nathan said.
“Sir?”
“Give Alvarez everything.”
James waited.
“The internal report?”
Nathan swallowed.
“All of it.”
That decision cost Nathan his company by breakfast.
Not immediately.
Companies that large rarely broke in dramatic moments.
They cracked through email.
At 6:12 the next morning, the chair of Cole Meridian’s board requested an emergency meeting.
At 6:18, the general counsel called Nathan personally and advised him not to answer questions from law enforcement without company counsel present.
At 6:23, Nathan told him he already had.
There was a long silence.
At 6:25, the general counsel used a phrase Nathan had heard dozens of times and never understood until it was aimed at him.
“You have created material exposure.”
By seven, three directors knew about the Daniel Cross report.
By eight, all eleven did.
Nathan sat in the hospital cafeteria drinking coffee that tasted vaguely burned while men and women he had known for years discussed whether he should temporarily step aside as chief executive.
He stared at a packet of sugar.
Claire had once told him he used expensive coffee as a personality substitute.
The hospital had successfully cured that.
At 8:17, the board voted nine to two to place him on administrative leave pending an independent review.
Nathan did not argue.
That frightened them more than if he had.
After the call, he folded the sugar packet into smaller and smaller rectangles until it split and spilled white granules across the table.
A maintenance worker passing with a trash cart looked at the mess.
Nathan said, “Sorry.”
The man handed him a napkin.
“Long morning?”
Nathan looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Been there.”
Nathan doubted it.
Then he disliked himself for doubting it.
He cleaned the sugar.
Sergeant Alvarez found him twenty minutes later.
She sat across from him without asking.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Nathan pushed the untouched coffee aside.
“What do you have?”
“A problem.”
“Specific.”
“Your daughter’s recording is useful, but it doesn’t prove what you think it proves.”
“I know.”
“Your wife’s statement matters, but she has a concussion and memory gaps.”
“I know.”
“Hospital video puts Victoria Lane here yesterday. It also puts Daniel Cross in the building.”
“And?”
“It doesn’t show either of them touching medication.”
Nathan rubbed his forehead.
“What about access logs?”
“Cross used an employee-controlled service entrance.”
“So someone let him in.”
“Probably.”
“Who?”
“Still working on it.”
“Medication?”
“The hospital is doing a full internal audit. They found a discrepancy in the administration record.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning they are taking this seriously.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the answer I have.”
Nathan leaned back.
Alvarez watched him.
“What else?” he asked.
She opened a folder.
“Did Claire take a sedative Thursday before the crash?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“She had prescriptions after a back injury years ago, but she didn’t use them regularly.”
“Her bloodwork showed one.”
Nathan stared at her.
“What?”
“A sedating medication was present when she arrived after the collision.”
“How much?”
“Enough that the treating physicians noted it could have impaired her.”
Nathan’s fingers went to his watch.
He stopped them halfway.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“They did.”
“No.”
Alvarez slid a photocopy across the table.
At the bottom was Nathan’s signature.
He recognized it immediately.
A stack of hospital intake forms had been placed in front of him Thursday night while Claire was in imaging.
He had signed every tab James pointed to.
One of them acknowledged discussion of toxicology findings.
Nathan stared at the page.
“I didn’t read this.”
“I figured.”
He looked at her sharply.
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
He pushed the paper away.
“Claire doesn’t take that medication before driving.”
“Could she have taken it accidentally?”
“Yes.”
“Could someone have given it to her without her knowing?”
Nathan looked toward the cafeteria entrance.
Alvarez waited.
“Victoria had dinner with us that afternoon.”
“Where?”
“At the house.”
“Claire drank?”
“Tea. Maybe half a glass of wine.”
“Who served it?”
Nathan’s mouth went dry.
He thought of white gloves.
James.
Then he hated himself for thinking it.
“Staff,” he said.
“Specific staff?”
“James was there.”
Alvarez wrote the name down.
Nathan felt something in him recoil.
“He has worked for me eleven years.”
“That doesn’t mean anything yet.”
“He’s loyal.”
“Mr. Cole.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Everybody says that about people they trust.”
James submitted voluntarily to an interview.
Nathan was not present.
He waited outside Claire’s room while Emma ate dry cereal from a paper cup and watched cartoons without sound.
At nine-thirty, James came down the corridor.
He had removed the white gloves.
Nathan realized he had almost never seen his hands.
There was an old burn scar across the back of the left one.
Nathan nodded toward the conference room.
“How bad?”
“They asked who prepared Mrs. Cole’s drink Thursday.”
“And?”
“I did.”
Nathan’s chest tightened.
James continued.
“I poured the wine. She changed her mind after two sips and asked for tea. I made the tea.”
“Did you leave the room?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Perhaps four minutes.”
“Who was there?”
“Victoria.”
Nathan looked at him.
“Anyone else?”
“Emma briefly. Mrs. Cole. One housekeeper passed through.”
“Could Victoria have touched the drink?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without defense.
Nathan looked down the hallway.
“Do you think she did?”
James’s mouth tightened.
“I think I should have been paying more attention.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan nodded.
He started to walk away.
James said, “Sir.”
Nathan stopped.
“There is something else.”
May you like
Nathan turned.
James held out a small plastic evidence pouch.
