Chapter 12 - The Signature
Adrian asked for Ruth.
Then he saw Nora watching.
“Let her stay,” he said.
Ruth sat beside him.
The agent placed three documents on the table.
Nora recognized the inspection report.
The second was a contractor invoice.
The third was an email bearing Adrian’s name.
Keep the matter internal until we understand exposure.
Nora looked at him.
“Six people died.”
“Yes.”
“And you were worried about exposure.”
“Yes.”
She wanted him to argue.
To offer something she could tear apart.
Instead, he sat with both hands flat on the table.
“The relocation request came during a refinancing deal,” he said. “Elaine told me the report was preliminary. She said moving everyone would collapse the purchase and leave the residents without housing.”
“So you signed.”
“I signed.”
“Did you read the report?”
“Not all of it.”
Nora leaned back.
That was worse than the answer she had expected.
Six people.
And he hadn’t finished reading.
“When did you learn about the alarms?” the agent asked.
“After the fire. The invoice was described as temporary system work. I accepted that explanation.”
“For how long?”
Adrian looked at Nora.
“Until Ben brought me the original contractor’s notes.”
The agent tapped the email.
“And then?”
“I ordered an internal review.”
Ruth watched him carefully.
Adrian continued.
“I also told legal to keep the records from the insurers while we reviewed them.”
Nora’s disgust settled cold in her stomach.
“You hid it.”
“Yes.”
“Then Ben disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And suddenly you found a conscience.”
Adrian flinched.
Ruth didn’t interrupt.
“I found him half-dead,” he said. “That shouldn’t have been what it took.”
The room went quiet.
He wasn’t the man who had sent Ben into the river.
He wasn’t innocent, either.
Nora stood.
“You don’t get to use what you did tonight to erase what you did then.”
“I’m not asking to.”
Outside, Celia sat in a wheelchair with a hospital blanket over her knees.
She had been treated, cleared to travel, and brought in to identify the people involved.
“Did they find Owen?”
Nora looked at the agent beside her.
His silence answered.
Martin had been arrested.
The ledger wasn’t in the archive.
Neither was Elaine.
The video call had come from somewhere else.
Celia gripped the blanket.
Then her phone rang.
Elaine’s voice filled the hallway.
“The boy and I are taking a little trip.”
May you like
Behind her, a ferry horn sounded.
“And Celia? Come alone, or this is the last time you hear him.”
