Chapter 9 - The Woman in Emerald
Vanessa contacted Nora two days later.
She wanted a meeting with attorneys present.
She wanted to know whether cooperation could protect her.
“I can't promise what investigators will do,” Nora told her lawyer.
I said yes to the meeting anyway.
There were questions I wanted answered while Vanessa had to look at me.
She arrived in a gray sweater.
No emerald silk.
No diamonds.
Without them, she looked less like a rival than a woman who had finally seen the bill.
“Julian told me you knew about us.”
“Then why did you say I threatened you?”
She looked at her attorney.
He nodded once.
“I wanted him to take my side.”
“You already had his side.”
Her fingers tightened around a paper cup.
I didn't rescue her from the silence.
She explained that Julian had discovered the Hart trust's connection to me while preparing a refinancing package.
He knew my approval mattered.
He had assumed my interest was passive and that he could obtain permanent authority before anyone challenged the earlier payments.
“He said you signed whatever he put in front of you.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Nora touched my sleeve, asking without words whether I wanted a break.
I shook my head.
“And when I didn't?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“He said he could get you to cooperate.”
Her attorney produced messages and accounting files for formal delivery to investigators.
Vantage Advisory had billed for work it never performed.
Vanessa received a share.
“I didn't know he would hurt you like that.”
“You were in the house afterward.”
She stared into the cup.
“You heard Penny.”
“Yes.”
That answer hurt more than another lie would have.
“The earrings?” I asked.
“He gave them to me.”
“They belonged to my mother.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
I stood.
I had what I came for, and no interest in watching her manufacture remorse.
At the door, she spoke again.
“There's a draft declaration. He wanted me to sign it.”
Nora turned back.
“About what?”
“Evelyn drinking. Leaving Penny alone. Things I didn't see.”
“Did you sign?”
“No.”
May you like
For the first time, I saw fear underneath her shame.
“He said if I wouldn't help, he'd find someone who would.”
