Chapter 10 - What Walter Protected
Walter turned the phone over.
"Don't answer her," Dana said. "And don't erase it."
The accountant requested bank records directly from the foundation's authorized staff. By evening, its board had suspended Victoria's access and appointed an outside team to examine the payments.
Ethan returned to the hospital between calls.
Lucy sat in the waiting room wearing his jacket again, although she wasn't cold.
"Did you find the truth?"
"Some of it."
"Is it worse?"
He sat beside her.
"Yes."
"Okay. Don't tell me all of it right now."
He put his phone away, and they split a bag of pretzels.
For twenty minutes, nobody asked the child to be brave.
Walter arrived after sunset. Ethan took him into the hall, away from Lucy.
"Dana said you need your own attorney."
"I've called one."
Walter held a smaller folder against his chest.
"There are things in here I didn't bring this afternoon."
Ethan laughed once, without humor.
"You still tried it."
"Yes."
The folder contained internal reports. Missing money relabeled as program costs. Questions from an employee marked resolved without an investigation.
Walter had approved the reports.
"You knew the accounts were wrong."
"Victoria said she was correcting old errors. At first, I believed her. Later... I didn't want to know how much was wrong."
"And Olivia?"
His father looked toward the room at the end of the hall.
"If she came back, we'd have to open everything. The settlement. The books. The things I'd signed."
Ethan's voice went flat.
"You weren't protecting me."
Walter's eyes filled, but Ethan felt no need to rescue him from the answer.
"No," Walter said. "I was protecting myself."
A nurse passed carrying fresh blankets. Somewhere behind a door, a television audience laughed.
Ethan wondered how the world could keep making ordinary sounds.
"Take that folder to your attorney," he said. "Tell them to preserve it and arrange its delivery to the investigators."
"Will you ever forgive me?"
"You don't get that question tonight."
Walter nodded. He looked suddenly old, but age didn't make him innocent.
As he left, Ethan's phone rang.
May you like
It was the ICU nurse.
"Olivia is waking up," she said. "She's asking for Lucy. And she's very frightened about something she needs to tell her."
