Chapter 5 - The Call from Florida
Dana Cross answered Miriam’s call at 11:17 a.m.
She hung up before Miriam finished introducing herself.
At 11:24, she sent a text.
DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN.
At 11:31, she called Daniel.
Claire saw his phone light up.
DANA CROSS.
Daniel looked at Claire before answering.
“Put it on speaker,” Claire said.
He did.
Dana’s voice came fast and frightened.
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing they didn’t already know.”
“You said this was finished.”
“I never said that.”
“You said Nathaniel was dead.”
Claire felt cold.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Dana, who told you that mattered?”
Silence.
Then: “I’m not talking to you.”
Miriam leaned closer to the phone.
“Ms. Cross, this is Miriam Sloan. I represent Nathaniel Hale’s estate. No one here is threatening you. But documents bearing a forged signature have been discovered, and your name appears in the notary’s records.”
Dana swore softly.
“I want a lawyer.”
“You should get one.”
Miriam’s calmness seemed to unsettle her more than pressure would have.
Dana breathed into the phone.
Then she said, “Ask Evelyn where my money is.”
The line went dead.
Claire looked toward Daniel.
“What money?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try harder.”
“I knew Dana demanded money from me. I assumed it was blackmail.”
“Maybe someone already owed her.”
Miriam’s expression sharpened.
“Which would explain why she contacted Daniel after Nathaniel confronted Evelyn.”
They found Evelyn in her study.
She was standing beside the window with her coat on.
A suitcase sat near the door.
Daniel stopped.
“You’re leaving?”
“I am not staying here while your wife and that attorney conduct a witch hunt.”
Claire stepped between Evelyn and the suitcase.
“You took Dana Cross to a notary.”
Evelyn did not blink.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Leonard Price has records.”
“Then Leonard Price can speak with my attorney.”
“Dana said to ask you where her money is.”
That landed.
Only for a second.
But Claire saw it.
Evelyn recovered.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“You’re not walking out with anything until the deputy confirms he’s finished documenting this room.”
“You have no authority to detain me.”
“She doesn’t,” Miriam said from the doorway. “But Deputy Bell asked all parties not to remove materials potentially related to the documents he photographed. Your suitcase may leave after he confirms it contains your personal property.”
Evelyn stared at the lawyer.
“You have always enjoyed this family’s misery.”
Miriam’s expression remained neutral.
“I bill by the hour. Enjoyment is unnecessary.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Claire didn’t.
Evelyn turned toward her son.
“This is what she’s doing to you.”
Daniel’s face closed.
“What?”
“Standing there while strangers dig through your mistakes.”
“They’re not strangers.”
“She will destroy your career.”
“I did that myself.”
Evelyn stared at him.
Claire did too.
Daniel took a breath.
“I approved invoices I knew were false.”
Evelyn’s composure cracked.
“You approved them because I told you they were temporary transfers.”
“And after the first one, I knew that wasn’t true.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
His voice rose.
Lucas was upstairs.
Claire immediately lifted a hand.
“Lower your voice.”
Daniel obeyed.
He turned back to his mother.
“I kept approving them because you said if I stopped, Graymont would pull its bridge financing and Hale Ridge would default.”
“It would have.”
“Dad found out that wasn’t true.”
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.
Daniel corrected himself.
“Nathaniel found out.”
Claire felt the distinction.
For years Daniel had called Nathaniel “Dad” in private.
Now the word seemed forbidden.
Daniel continued.
“Northstar wasn’t protecting the company. It was paying you.”
“I had expenses.”
“Six hundred and forty thousand dollars in expenses?”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“You enjoyed the life my relationships made possible.”
Claire almost laughed.
“What life? My father owned the lodge. My father built Hale Ridge.”
“And who introduced Graymont? Who brought investors to Daniel? Who opened doors Nathaniel was too proud to enter?”
“There it is,” Claire said quietly.
Evelyn looked at her.
“You think you deserved a piece.”
“I earned one.”
“So you stole it?”
“I collected what Nathaniel owed me.”
Daniel stepped backward.
Claire saw something collapse inside him.
He had heard the closest thing to an admission his mother would ever make.
Miriam said, “That statement would be better made with your counsel present.”
Evelyn turned sharply.
“I admitted nothing.”
“Good.”
Evelyn grabbed her handbag.
As she lifted it, something fell from the outer pocket.
A folded sheet of paper.
Claire bent before Evelyn could reach it.
“Give me that.”
Claire unfolded it.
It was a wire-transfer instruction.
A bank in the Cayman Islands.
Beneficiary: D. Cross Consulting.
Amount: $125,000.
Status: pending.
The transfer date was tomorrow.
Claire looked at Evelyn.
“You were paying Dana.”
Evelyn snatched the paper.
“You have no idea what that is.”
Claire’s phone rang.
Miriam had asked her accountant to begin reviewing Nathaniel’s copied financial files.
Claire answered.
“Claire?”
It was Lydia Park, Nathaniel’s longtime controller.
“I found something you need to see.”
“What?”
“A second set of Northstar payments.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“How much?”
“These didn’t come from Hale Ridge.”
“Where did they come from?”
Lydia hesitated.
“From a trust account created for Lucas.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Across the room, Daniel saw her face.
“What is it?”
Claire looked directly at Evelyn.
May you like
“Someone took money from my son.”
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