Chapter 14 - Grant Comes Home
Grant called at midnight.
Claire almost ignored the unknown number.
Then she answered.
“Claire.”
His voice sounded different.
No arrogance.
No performance.
Fear.
“Where are you?”
“At the hotel.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She stood from her desk.
“What happened?”
Grant breathed heavily.
“Richard Vale isn’t the problem.”
“I already know that.”
Silence.
Then Grant whispered, “You always were faster than me.”
“Who is?”
“A man named Daniel Cross.”
Claire wrote the name.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
Evan entered the office.
Claire put the call on speaker.
Grant heard Evan’s voice.
“Grant,” Evan said.
Another silence.
“Of course you’re there.”
“Who is Cross?”
Grant exhaled.
“I found Richard because I wanted leverage against Claire.”
Evan laughed without humor.
“At least you admit it.”
“I was angry.”
“You were humiliated,” Claire corrected.
“Yes.”
Grant sounded exhausted.
“I was humiliated.”
The admission surprised her.
He continued.
“Richard introduced me to Cross. Said Cross specialized in recovering disputed assets.”
“Meaning?”
“Pressure. Investigation. Private intelligence.”
“Crime?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Convenient.”
“I wanted you scared, Claire. I wanted you to believe the hotel was vulnerable. I thought you’d negotiate.”
“And Samuel Reed?”
“I never heard his name until today.”
“Box P-14?”
Grant went silent.
Claire’s voice hardened.
“You knew.”
“Cross said there was one document that could destroy Vale’s claim.”
“You paid him to steal it.”
“I paid him to obtain information.”
“Grant.”
“I did not authorize violence.”
Claire looked at Evan.
“Where are you?”
Grant whispered an address.
Marcus’s Manhattan office.
“I came here because my apartment was broken into.”
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why break in?”
“They left something.”
“What?”
Grant’s voice cracked.
“A photograph of me sleeping.”
Evan stopped pacing.
Claire felt cold.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Go to police.”
“I did. Cross has disappeared.”
“Richard?”
“Won’t answer.”
“Arthur?”
“Quit representing me this morning.”
For the first time, Claire understood just how frightened Grant was.
“You started this.”
“I know.”
“Why should I help you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
His answer came immediately.
That surprised her more than anything.
“You shouldn’t help me. But Cross wants something connected to your father, and I think he’ll hurt anyone standing between him and it.”
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire nearly hung up.
Then Grant said:
“Wait.”
She listened.
“The first night I met him, he asked one question.”
“What?”
“He asked whether your father ever mentioned a company called Northstar Municipal.”
Marcus, standing in the doorway, froze.
Claire saw it.
“Marcus?”
Marcus said nothing.
“Do you know it?”
His face went gray.
“End the call.”
Claire stared at him.
“Why?”
“End it.”
She disconnected.
Marcus shut the door.
“Northstar Municipal wasn’t a company in the normal sense.”
“What was it?”
“A procurement consortium.”
“For what?”
“Public redevelopment contracts. Massachusetts. Connecticut. Rhode Island.”
Claire sat slowly.
“My father?”
“Was an investor.”
“Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Was it legal?”
Marcus hesitated.
Evan muttered, “Here we go again.”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“There were allegations of bid manipulation.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“My father was involved in bribery?”
“I never saw proof.”
“But Cross thinks proof exists.”
“Yes.”
“Inside Box P-14?”
“Possibly.”
Claire stared at Marcus.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Marcus looked suddenly very old.
“Your father came to me six months before he died. He believed someone from Northstar was blackmailing him.”
“Who?”
“He never said.”
“What did they want?”
“The original accounting ledger.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
A knock hit the office door.
Luis entered holding a padded envelope.
“This was delivered downstairs.”
Claire stared at it.
Another envelope.
Inside was a flash drive.
No message.
They plugged it into an isolated laptop.
A video opened.
Samuel Reed sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Bruised.
Behind him stood a masked man.
The distorted voice spoke one sentence.
“Bring me the Northstar ledger by Monday, Claire, or your employee disappears permanently.”
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Then Claire touched the brass key around her neck.
Grant had once mistaken her restraint for weakness.
Cross was about to make the same mistake.
“Luis,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Lock down the hotel.”
May you like
Then she looked at Marcus.
“And this time, nobody protects me from the truth.”
