Chương 6
“I’m not trying to be noble.”
“You do it accidentally sometimes.”
He accepted that.
She took a sip of coffee.
“I don’t know what happens to us,” she said.
“I know.”
“No, Ethan. You don’t.”
He looked at her.
She kept her voice low.
“I believe you didn’t know about them. I don’t blame you for having children with someone before me. That would be insane.”
“Okay.”
“But I found out tonight that the family I was about to marry into has been running some kind of private witness-protection program against its own patriarch for seven years.”
Ethan almost corrected the exaggeration.
He decided not to.
Vanessa looked at Margaret’s empty chair.
“And your first instinct, every time your mother told you something impossible, was to reject the part that made your father look worst.”
He said nothing.
“That scared me.”
“It scared me too.”
“Good.”
He looked at her.
She sighed.
“That came out mean.”
“It was fine.”
“No, it wasn’t. I’m tired.”
“So am I.”
“Your face is swelling.”
He touched his cheek.
“I forgot about that.”
“I didn’t.”
For a moment they sat without talking.
Liam had fallen asleep with his arms folded on the table.
Vanessa took the hot chocolate away before he knocked it over.
At five thirteen, Detective Alvarez returned.
She asked Ethan to step into the hallway.
Margaret was with her.
So was Daniel.
Alvarez held a small notebook.
“We found something in Ms. Mercer’s phone records.”
Ethan’s pulse accelerated.
“What?”
“Her phone is locked. We don’t have the contents yet. But we obtained recent carrier records based on emergency circumstances related to identifying next of kin.”
Grant would have found a way to make that sentence sound suspicious.
Ethan forced himself to listen instead.
Alvarez continued.
“Ms. Mercer received six calls yesterday from a number registered to a security consulting company.”
Daniel looked at the floor.
Ethan noticed.
“Which company?”
Alvarez said, “North Coast Risk.”
Daniel closed his eyes briefly.
“You know them?” Ethan asked.
Daniel nodded.
“They’ve subcontracted for us.”
“For Grant?”
“For the family office. Occasionally.”
Margaret said, “Grant used them seven years ago.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because they were the men outside Claire’s apartment.”
The detective’s attention sharpened.
“You knew the company name?”
Margaret nodded.
“And you did not mention that earlier.”
“I just did.”
Alvarez watched her for a long moment.
Margaret looked tired for the first time Ethan could remember.
Not elegant-tired.
Old.
“I should have told you seven years ago,” she said.
Alvarez replied, “You can start by telling me now.”
North Coast Risk did not answer its office number before nine.
Grant answered Ethan on the first ring.
Ethan had walked to an empty family lounge overlooking the rain-black city.
He stood at the window with Claire’s photograph in his hand.
Vanessa had returned it to him after the police photographed it.
Grant said, “You should sleep.”
“Did you hire North Coast?”
A pause.
“For what?”
“To find Claire.”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Ethan shut his eyes.
There it was.
Not proof of murder.
Not even proof of a crime.
But a lie from earlier had now become another thing.
“Why?”
“I heard she had returned to Chicago.”
“From whom?”
“That is irrelevant.”
“It’s the only thing I asked.”
“One of our outside consultants flagged her name.”
“Why was her name being flagged?”
Grant sighed.
“You are emotional.”
Ethan laughed.
The sound surprised him.
“My children’s mother died six hours ago.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Ethan—”
“Did you know the boys were hers?”
“I suspected.”
“Did you know they were mine?”
Silence.
Ethan pressed his palm against the cold glass.
“Say it.”
“I believed it was possible.”
“For seven years?”
“I did not have confirmation.”
“Mom did.”
“Yes.”
The admission was so calm Ethan nearly threw the phone.
Instead he said, “You knew she had confirmation.”
Grant did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Ethan looked down at the old photograph.
Claire was laughing.
He had forgotten what had made her laugh that day.
He hated himself for forgetting.
“What did you want from her?”
“The same thing I wanted seven years ago.”
“The records?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she misunderstood what she had.”
“Then why care?”
“Because people who misunderstand documents can still destroy companies.”
Ethan let the sentence sit between them.
Grant continued.
“You know how these things work. Partial correspondence. Draft reports. People protecting themselves in email. A compliance employee builds a narrative and suddenly twenty years of work becomes a headline.”
“Did people die?”
Grant’s breathing changed.
“People die in hospitals.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“The device failures were investigated.”
“Did you order anyone to change reports?”
“No.”
“Did Claire believe you did?”
“Yes.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
Ethan looked through the glass at the city.
“Then why did she spend seven years hiding?”
“Ask your mother.”
“I did.”
“You asked a woman who has hated me for most of our marriage.”
Ethan frowned.
He had never heard Grant say that aloud.
Grant’s voice remained controlled.
“Your mother wanted to punish me. Claire gave her a way.”
“That is what you think happened?”
“That is partly what happened.”
There was hurt in his father’s voice.
Real hurt.
Ethan wished it sounded fake.
People would have been easier if evil erased every other human quality.
Grant said, “You were always Margaret’s favorite because you believed she was gentler than I was.”
“I was her only child.”
“That did not answer me.”
Ethan rubbed his eyes.
“What did North Coast do yesterday?”
“I told them to locate Claire and request a meeting.”
“Request.”
“Yes.”
“Six calls.”
“She refused.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
Ethan heard his mother’s answer from hours earlier in the same word.
He almost laughed again.
Instead he said, “Stay away from Noah and Liam.”
“They are my grandchildren.”
“They’re frightened of you.”
“Because Claire made them frightened.”
“Maybe.”
May you like
Grant went quiet.
That single word seemed to unsettle him more than any accusation.
