Chapter 10 - NO MORE SECRETS
Adrian drove to the station anyway, but he waited in the public lobby until Emma said she was ready to see him. He didn't arrive with bodyguards. He didn't decide where she would sleep. He brought coffee, which she accepted without looking at him.
"I told you not to come," she said.
"You did. I should've asked first."
She took a breath. "Thank you for saying that."
Ortiz had interviewed Caleb. He admitted visiting Emma's building but claimed he'd meant to warn her. The photo frightened him when detectives showed it to him; he denied taking it. The envelope carried no usable fingerprints.
"He's lying about something," Ortiz said. "But lying isn't enough to charge him with the crash."
Emma turned to Adrian. "I need to ask you something. Did you know your company was raising rents at Crescent Harbor while you were in rehab?"
"No."
"My mother got a notice last week. They want two hundred families gone before Christmas."
Adrian felt anger rise, then guilt beneath it. "I'll stop it."
"Don't promise what you haven't checked."
He nodded. "I'll read the notices and work with the tenants' attorney."
For the first time that morning she almost smiled.
Nora arrived with a court order temporarily blocking the waterfront sale and requiring the company to preserve financial records. But she carried worse news too: Graham had called an emergency board meeting for the following night to remove Adrian as CEO.
"If they succeed," Nora warned, "they'll appoint someone who'll keep the deal moving the minute the order expires."
Emma set down her cup. "Then you'll need a witness the board doesn't control."
"Who?" Adrian asked.
May you like
She slid her phone across the table. A voicemail had arrived while they talked. Mara Miller was crying in the background.
A man's voice said, "Tell Blackwood I know who cut his brakes."
