Chapter 12 - THE WOMAN MY FATHER REFUSED TO TRUST
We postponed the Harbor Point vote.
Veronica Hale called me thirteen minutes later.
That alone told me somebody inside Vance Capital had informed her.
“Audrey,” she said warmly, “I hear you’ve developed concerns.”
“I hear information travels quickly.”
She laughed.
“Commercial real estate is a small world.”
“So are prison yards. That doesn’t mean I want to spend time in one.”
Silence.
Then another laugh, colder.
“You have your father’s personality.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Veronica requested lunch.
I accepted.
Claire called me insane.
Martin called it unnecessary.
Naomi called it useful as long as I didn’t say anything substantive.
Derek called and said, “Do not underestimate her.”
That one irritated me.
“You’ve met her?”
Another silence.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
My jaw tightened.
“How many years?”
“Before Maisie.”
“Derek.”
“I met her through my mother.”
Of course he had.
By noon I was sitting across from Veronica in a Manhattan restaurant where the water cost more than Dad would have tolerated for an entire lunch.
She was sixty, elegant, silver-blonde hair cut sharply at her jaw, dark green suit, no visible jewelry except a watch that probably cost more than Derek’s condo.
“You look like Samuel,” she said.
“I don’t.”
“You do when you’re suspicious.”
“You knew him well?”
Her smile shifted.
“Well enough.”
“Then tell me about Harbor Point.”
She lifted her wine.
“Your father had a sentimental weakness for underperforming assets.”
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
“He liked saving things.”
Companies.
Buildings.
People.
My stomach tightened because that did sound like him.
“He believed Meridian manipulated reports.”
“He believed many things.”
“Was he wrong?”
Veronica placed down her glass.
“Yes.”
Too quickly.
I had learned something from Derek.
Speed mattered.
“Did Richard Lang work for you?”
“Richard worked for everyone.”
“Did he work for you?”
A pause.
“Occasionally.”
“What did he do?”
“Consulting.”
The same word Richard had used years earlier.
I smiled.
Veronica noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No. Tell me.”
“Whenever wealthy people say consulting, somebody should immediately count the silverware.”
Her smile disappeared.
Lunch ended fifteen minutes later.
Outside, Naomi waited in the car.
“Well?”
“She lied.”
“About?”
“I don’t know yet.”
My phone rang.
Derek again.
This time his voice sounded different.
“Where are you?”
“Manhattan.”
“Is Maisie with you?”
“No. Preschool.”
“Call them.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Just call them.”
I did.
The preschool director answered.
“Ms. Vance, I was about to contact you.”
Every parent knows that tone.
The world narrows instantly.
“Is Maisie okay?”
“She’s fine.”
My lungs worked again.
“What happened?”
“A woman came to the office twenty minutes ago claiming she was authorized to pick Maisie up.”
“What woman?”
“She identified herself as your friend Claire.”
I looked at Naomi.
Claire was sitting in a Vance Capital committee meeting downtown.
“She wasn’t Claire.”
“We know. She could not provide the security code.”
“What did she look like?”
“We have surveillance.”
“Did she leave?”
“Yes.”
“Call the police.”
“We already have.”
My hands began shaking.
Naomi reached for my arm.
Then the director said something that made my blood run cold.
“She knew Maisie’s classroom.”
I stopped breathing.
“She knew her teacher’s name.”
My voice barely worked.
“What else?”
“She knew Maisie calls your front door Boo.”
That was not public.
That was not corporate information.
That belonged inside my house.
When I returned home that afternoon, police checked every window, door and exterior camera.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Then Claire stood beneath the hallway smoke detector.
“Audrey.”
“What?”
She pointed upward.
“There’s a light blinking.”
“There’s supposed to be.”
“Not that one.”
Naomi fetched a chair.
The detective removed the smoke detector.
Behind it was a device the size of a quarter.
A wireless camera.
Someone had been watching my house.
Watching me.
May you like
Watching my daughter.
And whoever had placed it knew exactly how close to come without touching the blue door.
