Chapter 10 - The Second Voice
The voice belonged to Nolan. It came from behind a closed office door in Olivia's recording, faint but clear enough to recognize. Vanessa replied, "She won't. Clara always runs to the rescue. That's what makes the story work."
I played the clip for Moreno in her office. She listened twice without changing expression. "That tells us motive and risk," she said. "We'll need to authenticate the file and establish where it was made."
"Why can't you arrest them now?"
"We're gathering evidence in a case that has more than one victim. I won't promise you a timetable to make you feel better."
The bluntness helped. I'd spent my whole adult life expecting a problem to move because I pushed harder. Here, pushing had already done terrible damage.
At home, the silence was unbearable. I put Emma's favorite stuffed rabbit on the clean shelf where she could find it if she returned. Then I noticed Clara's coffee mug, the one with a chipped handle she refused to throw away. I sat at the kitchen table and finally wrote down everything I had dismissed: the missing medicine, the unlatched gate, the bruising insults at dinner, the times Olivia went quiet when Vanessa entered a room.
I took the list to my first counseling appointment. The therapist asked what I wanted from it.
"I want my family back."
"That's an outcome you can't control," she said. "What behavior can you control?"
I had no answer that didn't sound like an excuse. We spent the session talking about the moment anger became permission in my head.
Afterward, Priya called. The foundation's accountant had found a previously undisclosed loan secured against a building the charity did not own outright. The loan papers listed me as guarantor.
"I never agreed to that," I said.
May you like
"I believe you. But a lender may come looking for the money."
Then she added, "Adrian, your sister has scheduled the board vote for tomorrow morning. And someone's already submitted a signed proxy in your name."
