Chapter 9 - NINETEEN MINUTES
Claire’s death had always been explained in one terrible sentence.
A car crash on a wet road after dark.
Nicholas had been home with a night nurse. Claire had gone to meet Julia for dinner, her first evening out since the birth.
Roman had been across town.
What he remembered most was the wait between the first call to the family and the call for help.
Nineteen minutes he had been told were confusion, bad reception, people assuming someone else had acted.
The recovered archive contained a voice message from the family driver, who had been following Claire in another car after returning from an errand.
He sounded young and frightened.
“Mr. Vane, she’s gone off the road. I’m calling an ambulance.”
Below it was Charles’s reply.
CALL ME FIRST. DO NOT INVOLVE ANYONE UNTIL WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.
Roman sat absolutely still.
Nora did not let him listen alone.
“This needs investigation,” she said. “It doesn’t tell us whether faster care would have saved her.”
“He made them wait.”
“It tells us he told the driver to call him.”
Roman stood so suddenly that his chair struck the wall.
For a moment, the man Charleston feared was right there in the hospital office, looking for someone to punish.
Dean waited by the door.
He would have followed an order.
Roman knew it. That was the worst part.
Then, through the wall, he heard Nicholas crying.
Not a recording.
Not a memory.
His son.
Roman put both hands on the table until the shaking stopped.
“Give it to Ortiz,” he said.
Dean’s shoulders lowered.
Julia arrived after Nora called her. Roman played the message again, because she had a right to hear it from something other than rumor.
Julia cried without making a sound.
“I thought she was alone,” she whispered.
“So did I.”
They sat side by side, sharing nothing that could be fixed.
Finally Julia said, “If you disappear into revenge, that baby loses both of you.”
Roman looked through the doorway at the crib.
“I know.”
This time, he understood what the words demanded.
His phone lit up with a message from Charles.
We need to speak privately. I can explain Claire.
May you like
A second message followed.
But first, ask your housekeeper why she was paid $25,000.
