Chapter 7 - A Voice in the Wall
The first time Nathan heard Victoria speak after the arrest, it was through a television.
She stood outside the courthouse beside her attorney, Graham Vale.
Victoria wore cream.
No jewelry.
No visible anger.
She looked fragile.
"My husband is grieving," she told reporters. "I believe that grief has distorted his understanding of what happened in our home."
Nathan switched off the television.
Emily sat at the hotel dining table doing math homework.
She looked up.
"Is she coming back?"
"No."
"Ever?"
Nathan hesitated.
He had promised not to lie.
"I don't know what a court will decide about everything. But she is not allowed near you or Caleb now."
Emily nodded.
Then she erased the same number four times.
Nathan sat beside her.
"You don't have to do homework today."
"If I don't, I get behind."
"That's okay."
"No, it isn't."
The panic in her voice made him stop.
Victoria had turned ordinary mistakes into danger.
Nathan gently took the pencil.
"Getting something wrong is not dangerous."
Emily's eyes filled.
He understood then how long recovery might take.
Later, Mara called.
Victoria's financial records had produced a new path.
Between four and five years earlier, Victoria received $612,000 through a consulting firm called Hartwell Advisory.
Hartwell shared an accountant with Cross Harbor Holdings.
Julian's private investment company.
Nathan stared at the figures.
"She told me she sold her apartment to pay her mother's treatment."
"She did," Mara said. "But she also received these transfers."
"For what?"
"No legitimate work we can find."
Nathan looked at the city outside the hotel window.
"Julian bought her."
"Or paid her."
"For what?"
"We don't know."
Detective Ruiz found something else.
The 911 recording from Laura's crash had been preserved.
Nathan listened in a police interview room.
Victoria's voice was breathless.
"There's been an accident."
The dispatcher asked for location.
Victoria gave it.
"Is anyone injured?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"Is the driver conscious?"
Another pause.
"Sometimes."
"Are you with the driver?"
Victoria said, "I'm nearby."
"Go to her if it is safe."
Victoria whispered, "I can't."
Nathan clenched his fists.
The dispatcher kept talking.
Then, faintly in the background, a man's voice spoke.
Too far away to understand.
Ruiz replayed it.
Nathan leaned toward the speaker.
Again.
A low male voice.
Two or three words.
Not enough.
"Julian?" Ruiz asked.
Nathan shook his head.
"I don't know."
That was true.
But the rhythm felt familiar.
The impatience.
The clipped delivery.
Ruiz stopped the recording.
"Victoria's lawyer says she won't answer questions without an immunity discussion."
"Immunity?"
"Discussion. Not agreement."
"She beat my children."
"Different case."
"She's using Laura's death to bargain down child abuse?"
"Her lawyer is using every available fact."
Nathan stood.
Ruiz looked up.
"Sit down."
"I'm done sitting."
"Then stand quietly."
He stared at her.
She continued.
"Anger is exactly what people around you are using against you."
That hit.
Nathan sat again.
Ruiz placed a new report on the table.
A forensic accountant had confirmed Hartwell Advisory paid Victoria two days after each of three suspicious Westbridge transfers.
Kickbacks.
Not proof of homicide.
Proof of something.
Ruiz said, "We also identified the security contractor who installed the hidden cameras in your house."
"Who hired them?"
"Victoria."
"I know."
"They were referred by Julian's executive assistant."
Nathan laughed without humor.
"Of course."
His phone buzzed.
Claire.
He ignored it.
Then she texted.
PLEASE TALK TO ME BEFORE YOU DESTROY WHAT'S LEFT OF THE COMPANY.
Nathan stared at the words.
He replied.
DID LAURA WARN YOU ABOUT JULIAN?
The typing indicator appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Finally:
NOT LIKE YOU THINK.
Nathan called immediately.
Claire answered.
"What does that mean?"
"I can't do this over the phone."
"Then come here."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Silence.
Nathan's voice dropped.
"What are you afraid of?"
Claire whispered, "The same thing Laura was."
The call ended.
Nathan sat frozen.
Ruiz had heard only his side.
"Your sister?"
"Yes."
"Do I need to talk to her?"
Nathan looked at Claire's message.
For years he had believed his family had been destroyed by an accident.
Now he wondered whether everyone around him had known pieces of the truth.
Everyone except him.
Then another unknown message arrived.
This one contained an image.
A scanned document.
WESTBRIDGE SPECIAL CONSULTING AUTHORIZATION.
At the bottom was Nathan's signature.
Not digital.
Handwritten.
May you like
And beside it was a note in Laura's handwriting.
NATHAN SIGNED WITHOUT READING. J WILL USE THIS AGAINST HIM.
