Chương 12
“You could have said that.”
“I did, badly. Then I stopped.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“I know.”
She looked at him sharply.
He raised one hand. “I know now.”
A laugh escaped her. She covered her face.
Julian smiled, then looked guilty for smiling.
“That sentence is still illegal,” she said.
“Under review.”
The humor faded without effort.
Clara picked up the photograph again. “I don’t know whether the lie destroyed our marriage or revealed it.”
“Both can be true.”
“That sounds like something Dana charges by the hour to say.”
“She charges more.”
Clara turned the photograph over.
“Do you want to come back?” she asked.
Julian did not answer quickly.
“I want the chance to become someone you could choose again,” he said. “That is not the same as asking you to choose me now.”
The sentence was almost too good. Clara searched his face for rehearsal.
“Did Dana write that?”
“No.”
“Did you practice it?”
“In the car.”
“Better.”
He nodded.
Clara put the photograph into her bag instead of the file.
Gwen’s first public appearance came at a foundation board hearing held six weeks after the corridor confrontation. Her lawyer advised against it. Gwen insisted because donors were blaming missing services on “administrative confusion,” and she wanted the theft named.
She entered through a side door carrying no baby. Marcus waited outside with their son.
Clara had not seen her since the hospital.
Gwen looked thinner. Her blue dress had been replaced by a gray suit that did not fit well at the shoulders. She sat before the board and admitted altering invoices, diverting money, accepting Victoria’s payment, and lying about an affair.
A board member asked why anyone should believe her now.
“They shouldn’t because I’m sorry,” Gwen said. “They should compare what I say with the bank records, messages, and files.”
“Were you coerced?”
“Yes.”
“Did you benefit?”
“Yes.”
“Did Victoria force you to steal the original thirty-two thousand?”
“No.”
Her lawyer touched her elbow, but Gwen continued.
“I did that before she knew. My father was going to lose his room at the care facility. I told myself I was borrowing money. Then I kept changing the number I planned to repay because I was already the person who had taken it.”
Clara watched from the back row.
Gwen’s voice shook when she described the false affair. She did not look at Clara until a board member asked whether jealousy motivated her.
“I was jealous of Clara,” Gwen said. “Not because of Julian. Because she could say no and survive people being angry with her. I thought that made her cold. Then Victoria showed me how useful my resentment could be.”
Clara felt the sentence in her throat.
“Did Dr. Hale ever mistreat you?” the board member asked.
“Yes.”
Dana shifted beside Clara.
Gwen continued. “She could be dismissive. She assumed competence was the same as kindness. Sometimes she made people feel stupid without noticing. None of that justifies what I did.”
The room murmured.
Clara stared at Gwen.
It would have been easier if the testimony contained only confession. Gwen had given her truth and injury together, refusing to make either one cancel the other.
Afterward, they met in a small conference room.
Marcus stood near the window holding the baby, who had grown rounder in the cheeks. He nodded to Clara but did not offer his hand.
Gwen remained by the door.
“My lawyer says I may plead to felony theft,” she said.
Clara did not know what response was expected.
“I’ll repay what I can. Marcus’s sister is helping with child care. I’m working weekends at a catering company.”
“Your father?”
“He died last month.”
Clara’s anger changed shape but did not leave.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Gwen nodded.
The baby sneezed. Marcus looked down at him and said, “That was dramatic,” in a serious voice. The child blinked, unimpressed.
Clara remembered Gwen saying the baby had Marcus’s ears. She could see them now.
“Why did you testify publicly?” Clara asked.
“Because Victoria kept saying I was confused.”
“You helped her say the same about me.”
“I know.”
The phrase sounded different from Gwen. Less polished, more exhausted.
Clara looked at the baby. “What is his name?”
“Daniel.”
“After your father?”
“Yes.”
Marcus shifted him carefully. “We should go.”
Gwen did not move.
“Are you asking me to forgive you?” Clara said.
“No.”
“Good.”
“I wanted you to hear me tell the truth where I told the lie.”
Clara considered that.
“It doesn’t repair anything.”
“I know.”
“But it matters.”
Gwen’s lips tightened. “Okay.”
They stood facing each other with too much history and no gesture that fit it. A hug would have been false. A handshake would have been ridiculous.
Clara opened the door.
Gwen left first.
Victoria was arrested two weeks later at a rented house outside Annapolis.
The charges included wire fraud, identity theft, obstruction, and conspiracy. Additional state charges were expected. Thomas was not arrested, but prosecutors informed his attorney that he remained under investigation for approving fraudulent transactions.
News footage showed Victoria leaving the house in dark glasses and a camel-colored coat. She did not appear frightened. She looked annoyed by the rain.
Clara watched the footage once, then turned off the television.
Margaret kept watching.
“She hates wet hair,” she said.
Thomas stood behind the sofa, one hand on the back cushion. “Her attorney says bail will be argued tomorrow.”
Margaret did not look at him. “Are you paying?”
“She needs representation.”
“She has money.”
“Her accounts are frozen.”
Clara waited for the old argument to begin. Instead Thomas sat in the armchair across from his wife.
“I am paying for initial counsel,” he said. “From my personal account. I will disclose it.”
Margaret nodded once.
May you like
It was a small change, almost insulting in its lateness, but Clara noticed it.
Victoria was released on bond with travel restrictions and electronic monitoring. She moved into a condominium owned by a friend. Through her attorney, she denied the charges and blamed forged files, unreliable witnesses, and Thomas’s mismanagement.
