Chapter 6 - What He Had Signed
“I need to ask you something,” I said.
Nicholas nodded.
“Are you involved?”
The diner noise seemed to recede.
He looked at the papers between us.
“In the stolen housing funds? No.”
“That wasn’t my whole question.”
He understood.
For a long moment, he watched the snow gathering against the window.
“My father built businesses using favors people couldn’t safely refuse,” he said. “When I inherited them, I told myself keeping the legitimate companies running was enough.”
“And the others?”
“Some were closed. Some were sold. Some I should have examined sooner.”
“Did people get hurt?”
“Yes.”
The answer sat between us.
I wanted him to deny everything.
I wanted the version of this story where the frightening man was simply misunderstood and every ugly rumor belonged to someone else.
Instead, he gave me something more difficult.
The truth.
“I won’t ask you to overlook that,” he said.
“Good.”
“I’ve retained outside counsel. We’re giving investigators access to the foundation records and reviewing the rest.”
“Because somebody tried to kill you?”
“Because you showed me your mother’s letter.”
I looked away first.
That answer was dangerous in an entirely different way.
I left the diner without kissing him.
Without promising anything.
But when I reached my car, he stood several feet away while I unlocked it.
“May I call you tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yes.”
The next morning, Detective Ruiz called instead.
Colin’s insurance company had handled policies for several Harbor Light properties.
She didn’t tell me whether that mattered.
By afternoon, it mattered enough for Colin to send eleven messages.
Please don’t drag me into something you don’t understand.
I didn’t answer.
I saved them.
At six, a woman was waiting outside my apartment building.
Early forties. Plain wool coat. Eyes swollen from crying.
“Ms. Keane?”
I stayed near the building camera.
“Who are you?”
“Beth Lawson. I process claims at Mercer’s office.”
My stomach tightened.
“Colin’s office?”
She nodded.
“I saw your picture. Then I saw him deleting files.”
I called Detective Ruiz before saying another word.
Beth waited.
Her hands shook so badly that I offered her my unopened coffee.
She held it for warmth.
When Ruiz arrived, Beth explained that she had noticed duplicate insurance certificates attached to vacant properties.
She had asked questions.
Colin told her the accounts belonged to important clients.
Then a payment appeared in her bank account labeled consulting.
She hadn’t agreed to consult on anything.
“I thought it was a payroll mistake,” she whispered. “Then my manager said I should think about my daughter.”
Ruiz guided her toward an unmarked car.
Before Beth left, she looked back at me.
“I kept the emails.”
Three words.
No dramatic speech.
Just three words that changed the direction of the week.
That night, Nicholas called.
I told him only what Ruiz had said I could share.
He listened.
Then he said, “My uncle knew Colin.”
I closed my eyes.
“From where?”
“A property acquisition last year.”
Last year.
When Colin had started working late.
When he had borrowed money from me because his bonus was delayed.
When he had told me I was exhausting for worrying about numbers that didn’t concern me.
I sat on the edge of my bed.
“I helped pay his rent.”
Nicholas said nothing.
“I worked extra weekend shifts.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I thought he was struggling.”
A pause.
“Trusting someone doesn’t make you foolish, Audrey.”
It was the kind of sentence people said easily.
But Nicholas sounded as if he needed to believe it too.
After we hung up, I opened Colin’s messages again.
The newest had arrived two minutes earlier.
Ask your boyfriend what happened to his father’s accountant.
I stared until the words blurred.
Then I forwarded it to Ruiz.
May you like
And for the first time, I wondered whether saving Nicholas had brought me closer to the truth.
Or simply closer to the edge of it.
