Chương 7
He arrived without security.
Maribel met him at the door and searched the gift bag he carried. Inside were two stuffed bears, two sets of clothing, a box of diapers, and a baby-food maker still sealed in its packaging.
She held up the machine.
“What is this?”
“It makes baby food.”
“I gathered that.”
“The woman at the store said it was useful.”
“The woman at the store works on commission.”
Bennett took it back.
Maribel removed one stuffed bear from the bag. “Two identical toys are a bad idea.”
“They’re twins.”
“They’re people.”
She handed one bear to him and kept the other in the office.
The visit took place in a room with a sagging couch, a washable rug, and a shelf of toys missing batteries. Dana sat near the door. Josephine sat on the floor with Evan and Cole between her knees.
Bennett lowered himself onto the rug.
His suit pants tightened across his knees. Josephine noticed.
“You own jeans,” she said.
“I wasn’t sure what was appropriate.”
“For the floor?”
“For this.”
Cole crawled toward the stuffed bear, stopped halfway, and sat down abruptly. Evan watched Bennett’s watch.
“They like shiny things,” Josephine said.
Bennett removed the watch and placed it on the rug.
Josephine immediately picked it up.
“No.”
“It’s not sharp.”
“It’s a ten-thousand-dollar object small enough to throw into a wall.”
“It’s insured.”
She stared at him.
Bennett put out his hand. “That was the wrong answer.”
“Yes.”
She returned the watch. He placed it in his pocket.
For several minutes, nothing happened. Bennett sat while the boys explored the space around him without approaching. Cole pushed the bear facedown and patted its back. Evan crawled toward Bennett’s shoe, touched the polished leather with one finger, then retreated.
Bennett had negotiated acquisitions with hostile founders who shouted for hours. He had addressed employees after a factory accident. He had stood beside his father’s coffin and thanked people he could not recognize.
He had never felt pressure like the pressure of remaining still while a nine-month-old decided whether he was safe.
“Cole hates socks,” Josephine said.
Bennett looked at the boys’ bare feet.
“Both of them are barefoot.”
“Evan takes his off because Cole does.”
“Which one wakes first?”
“Evan.”
“Which one won’t drink cold milk?”
“Cole.”
“Which one—”
“Slow down.”
Bennett folded his hands.
Cole crawled toward the bear again. Evan moved closer to Bennett’s knee.
Josephine watched him.
“You don’t have to memorize them in one morning.”
“I’ve already missed—”
“I know what you missed.”
Her voice was not cruel. That made it harder.
Evan reached for Bennett’s tie.
Bennett did not move.
The baby closed his fist around the silk and pulled. Bennett leaned forward to keep from choking. Cole laughed, a sudden soft burst that startled everyone.
Josephine smiled before she could stop herself.
Bennett looked at her.
The smile vanished, but not completely. A trace remained near one corner of her mouth.
“Should I take it off?” he asked.
“The tie?”
“Yes.”
“Unless you plan to let him keep you.”
Bennett loosened the knot with one hand. Evan objected when the fabric slipped from his fingers, so Bennett gave him the narrow end.
For the rest of the visit, Evan held the tie as though he had won it.
Cole eventually crawled close enough to touch Bennett’s knee.
At the end of thirty minutes, Josephine gathered the boys. Evan refused to release the tie.
Bennett removed it and let him keep it.
“You’ll need that,” Josephine said.
“I have others.”
“That one probably cost more than our groceries this month.”
The shame in Bennett’s face made her regret the sentence. He saw that too.
Neither apologized.
He left without touching either child.
In the parking lot, Winston waited beside the gray pickup.
“Grant found the hospital employee,” he said.
“Where?”
“Working patient intake at an orthopedic clinic outside Columbus. Her name is Carol Neves. She admits receiving money from the consulting company but says it was for advising on privacy procedures.”
“Did she alter records?”
“She says she moved Josephine’s chart into a restricted-access category after someone submitted a safety request.”
“Who submitted it?”
“A private patient advocate.”
“Felicity.”
“An advocate hired by Felicity.”
Bennett stared at the shelter doors.
“What did the restriction do?”
“It concealed the delivery from ordinary account searches, redirected billing correspondence, and prevented automatic release of records to outside representatives. None of that is illegal by itself. Hospitals do it for patients facing stalking or domestic violence.”
“Josephine never asked for it.”
“Carol says she believed Josephine had.”
“Because Felicity told her.”
“Because she received a signed request that appears to bear Josephine’s name.”
“Another forgery.”
“Possibly.”
“What did Carol do for forty-eight thousand dollars?”
“Ten thousand was her consulting fee. The rest moved through her account and went elsewhere.”
“Where?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Bennett looked at Winston.
“You said the hospital payoff and petition came from the same account.”
“They did.”
“You didn’t say the hospital employee kept only part of it.”
“I didn’t know last night.”
“Who got the rest?”
Winston glanced toward the road.
“Leslie Voss received three payments totaling twenty-four thousand dollars through a debt-consolidation service. Another nine went to a private process server. Five thousand is unaccounted for.”
“The court employee was involved before the children were born.”
“It appears that way.”
“Why would a court clerk care about hospital privacy?”
“Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she handled later filings and was paid in advance. Maybe the payments were for something else. We need records.”
Bennett rubbed the place where his tie had tightened against his neck.
“Felicity planned this for months.”
“Planning isn’t the same as knowing exactly how it would end.”
“She knew Josephine was pregnant before I did.”
“Yes.”
“And she decided I never would.”
Winston leaned against the pickup.
“Grant wants to know whether Felicity had a financial motive tied to the children.”
May you like
Bennett’s first instinct was no. Then he remembered his father’s trust.
Not a hidden fortune. Not a sudden inheritance. The Carter family voting trust controlled thirty-one percent of Carter Meridian. Bennett held voting authority while he had no descendants. Upon the birth of a biological child, a separate children’s trust was to be created, and an independent trustee appointed to review certain transfers involving family-held shares.
