Chương 6
“Fine. Attempted murders plural.”
“Nora.”
“What?”
“I almost died yesterday.”
Nora’s face softened.
“I know.”
“I can’t keep saying the sentence.”
“Okay.”
Claire stared at her hands.
Nora reached toward her, then stopped.
Claire noticed the hesitation.
She held out one hand.
Nora took it.
The aviation investigators would not give Claire conclusions. They gave her process.
The helicopter would be examined.
Maintenance records would be collected.
Electronic logs would be reviewed where available.
The door mechanism, belt and flight-control system would all be tested.
Claire found process comforting.
Process did not care whether her husband’s family owned half the buildings in a particular skyline.
Daniel did not call again that morning.
Evelyn did.
Claire almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“Are you safe?”
Evelyn’s voice was crisp, controlled and irritated enough to sound normal.
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“No.”
A pause.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Claire.”
“Gavin knew the door opened before anyone outside the aircraft should have known.”
Silence.
Then Evelyn said, “Gavin told me there had been a door malfunction.”
“When?”
“After operations contacted him.”
“What time?”
“I don’t keep transcripts of my mornings.”
“You keep receipts from restaurants you hated twelve years ago.”
“That is entirely different.”
Under other circumstances Claire might have smiled.
She did not.
“Was Gavin at the hangar yesterday?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he know I was meeting Nora?”
Another pause.
Longer.
“Daniel was concerned you intended to distribute confidential company records.”
Claire felt something cold move through her.
“So yes.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Claire, you are not an investigator.”
“No.”
“And right now you are frightened.”
“Yes.”
“Which means this is precisely the wrong time to make accusations you cannot take back.”
Claire stared at the carpet.
There it was.
Not concern.
Control.
Evelyn’s favorite instrument.
“Did you tell Gavin to restrict my system access?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel?”
“You should ask your husband.”
“I did.”
Silence again.
Claire said, “He told me the truth.”
“That would be a refreshing development.”
Claire almost laughed.
Evelyn had been cruel to Daniel for so long that sometimes she forgot she was doing it.
“Do you think he opened the door?” Claire asked.
Evelyn answered too quickly.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because my son is many things. A murderer is not one of them.”
“You sound certain.”
“I am his mother.”
“That isn’t evidence.”
“No. It is experience.”
Claire looked toward Nora, who had begun packing.
“Did Richard use Westmere?”
Evelyn said nothing.
Claire waited.
For the first time in the conversation, Evelyn’s breathing changed.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“Daniel.”
“What exactly did he tell you?”
“Answer the question.”
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“Do not discuss Westmere over the phone.”
Claire felt her pulse increase.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“That worked better when I was twenty-six and trying to impress you.”
“Claire.”
“Did Richard use it?”
“Yes.”
The room seemed quieter.
“For what?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“That family phrase again.”
“I know enough to tell you that whatever you think you found, you do not understand the whole structure.”
“Then explain it.”
“Not over the phone.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No private meeting. No Bennett lawyers. No family office.”
“You’re being theatrical.”
“I almost fell out of your helicopter yesterday.”
The words came before Claire could stop them.
Silence followed.
She hated the sudden tremor in her voice.
Evelyn heard it.
When she spoke again, the sharpness was gone.
“It was your helicopter too.”
Claire looked out the window.
“No,” she said. “I think that may have been part of the problem.”
She ended the call.
Two hours later, Claire identified her handbag at the sheriff’s office.
The printed Westmere records were missing.
Her wallet remained.
So did her makeup case, a packet of ginger chews, two pens, a hotel receipt, the folded ultrasound image and one earring she had assumed she lost in March.
Everything except the documents.
The deputy asked when she had last seen them.
“In the helicopter.”
“Before takeoff?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone handle your bag?”
“Daniel.”
“When?”
Claire paused.
“At the hangar.”
“Why?”
“I went to the restroom. He carried it to the aircraft.”
“Anyone else?”
“Ground staff could have.”
“Names?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mr. Mercer?”
Claire looked at him.
“Why are you asking about Gavin?”
The deputy leaned back slightly.
“We’re talking to everyone with relevant access.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No.”
Claire almost smiled.
He was better at this than she was.
She left with Nora.
In the parking lot, Claire stopped beside the rental car.
“Gavin was there.”
“You don’t know that.”
“The deputy wouldn’t ask for no reason.”
“He might have been testing you.”
Claire looked at Nora.
“You are annoyingly competent when you’re not wearing pharmacy sweatpants.”
“I kept them.”
“Of course you did.”
Nora unlocked the car.
Claire’s phone buzzed.
Daniel.
Can we talk?
She stared at it.
Nora said, “You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to?”
Claire hated the answer.
“Yes.”
They met in the courtyard of a small hotel near the marina because Claire refused Daniel’s suggestion of his lawyer’s office and Daniel refused Nora’s suggestion of a sheriff’s interview room.
Nora sat at another table close enough to see them and far enough not to hear.
Daniel arrived alone.
No driver.
No attorney.
He wore yesterday’s gray shirt under a different jacket.
Claire noticed he had covered the cut on his hand with a plain bandage.
He sat across from her.
For a while neither spoke.
A server asked if they wanted coffee.
Claire ordered tea.
Daniel ordered nothing.
The server looked faintly annoyed.
Claire found this reassuring.
Finally Daniel said, “Gavin was at the hangar.”
Claire looked at him.
“When?”
“Before we arrived.”
“How do you know?”
“I checked the security log.”
“You still have access?”
“Yes.”
“And investigators?”
“They’ve requested it.”
“Did you give it to them?”
“Yes.”
Claire waited.
Daniel rubbed his palms against his knees.
“He entered at six seventeen.”
May you like
“We arrived at seven thirty.”
“He left at seven forty-eight.”
