Chapter 5 - WHAT HE SIGNED
Arthur sat down slowly.
“Daniel was your brother?”
“Answer me.”
“I knew him as Daniel Hale.”
“He used our mother’s maiden name at work.”
Julian had moved closer.
Arthur raised one hand, stopping him.
“Daniel was caught copying company records.”
“He was an accountant.”
“He was taking files.”
“Files proving what?”
Arthur looked at the photograph Clara had just sent.
Seven years earlier. Cold rain. Julian’s hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
His own face turned toward the warehouse.
“I was told he was selling information.”
“So you went there.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“We argued. He said there was money missing from employee pension accounts. He said Julian knew.”
“And you believed Julian.”
Arthur shut his eyes.
“Yes.”
Clara gave a small, ugly laugh.
“You didn’t even have to think about that.”
“I authorized them to hold Daniel until we could find the copied records.”
“Hold him where?”
“At the warehouse.”
“For how long?”
“Until morning.”
“What happened in the morning?”
“Julian told me he’d escaped.”
Clara looked at Naomi.
The attorney’s face had gone still.
“Did you report him missing?” Clara asked.
“No.”
“Did you ask who let him out?”
“No.”
“You just went on with your life.”
Arthur had no answer that didn’t make him worse.
Clara ended the call.
Naomi crouched in front of her.
“Listen to me. We preserve what we have. We don’t confront anyone else.”
“I worked for him.”
“I know.”
“I kept him safe.”
“I know.”
Clara pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes.
“I loved him.”
Naomi waited until she lowered her hands.
“That doesn’t make you responsible for what he did. It does mean we need to be honest about what you did.”
Clara nodded.
There were payments she had arranged. Threats she had delivered with careful language. Things she had once called business because the real words were harder.
No clean exit.
Not anymore.
Upstairs in Naomi’s office, Ruth unfolded an old property receipt.
A faded handwritten note ran along the bottom.
D.H. — personal item retained. Locker 214.
“Bus station?” Naomi asked.
Clara shook her head.
She knew the number.
Costello headquarters had employee lockers in the basement.
Locker 214 belonged to a dead company that had never been formally closed.
Daniel’s company.
She had walked past it for five years.
Then Naomi’s office security system chimed.
May you like
Someone had entered the lobby downstairs.
On the camera feed, Julian Cross looked directly into the lens.
