“Then we document that too.”
Ethan leaned back.
“Could my mother have…”
He could not finish.
Patricia did not rescue him from the sentence.
Eventually he forced himself.
“Could she have caused Rachel’s accident?”
“I have no evidence of that.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then don’t decide it.”
He nodded.
That was harder than it sounded.
Anger wanted certainty.
Evidence required patience.
For the next four days, Ethan lived two lives.
One remained normal for Noah.
Breakfast.
Preschool.
Baths.
A trip to the park.
A repaired star necklace the jeweler returned on Wednesday.
The other life unfolded in Patricia’s office.
Marcus Dean flew in from Boston.
They met for the first time.
Ethan had imagined Marcus for years as a handsome threat.
A man his wife might have loved more.
Reality was almost disappointing.
Marcus was fifty-four, balding, slightly overweight, wearing glasses with one bent arm.
When Ethan entered the room, Marcus stood.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Marcus said, “I’m sorry.”
Ethan looked at him.
“For what?”
“For not getting through to you.”
Ethan shook his head.
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have come to the house.”
“You think my mother would have let you inside?”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Probably not.”
Ethan sat.
“Tell me about Rachel.”
Marcus did.
Not the woman Ethan knew at home.
Another version.
Rachel the investigator.
Rachel who stayed up until two in the morning comparing trust statements.
Rachel who got angry when accountants used words like discrepancy because she believed theft deserved ordinary language.
Rachel who refused Marcus’s advice to quietly negotiate with Vivian.
“She said if someone stole twenty dollars from a cash register, nobody would call it asset repositioning.”
Ethan smiled despite himself.
“That sounds like her.”
Marcus’s expression softened.
“She loved you.”
Ethan looked down.
“She was furious with you the last time I saw her.”
The smile vanished.
Marcus continued.
“But she loved you.”
“What did she say?”
“That you were being an idiot.”
Ethan laughed once.
“That also sounds like her.”
“She said once you saw the evidence, you would do the right thing.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“She trusted me more than I deserved.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Don’t turn this into self-punishment. Vivian manipulated both of you.”
“I chose to believe her.”
“Yes.”
Marcus did not soften that either.
Ethan appreciated it.
Then they reached Laura Price.
Marcus had met her only once.
Rachel found her after reviewing Samuel Price’s archived corporate files.
Samuel had discovered suspicious transfers years before Rachel.
He had written a memo to Robert Cole.
Ethan’s father.
The original supposedly remained with Laura.
“What did the memo say?”
“I never saw it.”
“Rachel did?”