Chapter 6 - Graham Offered Me Enough Money to Leave BaltimoreHe approached me in the grocery-store parking lot.
No threats.
No dramatic bodyguards.
Just Graham leaning against a silver sedan while I loaded food into my old Honda.
“Claire.”
I stopped.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I wanted to speak without Adrian.”
“No.”
I closed the trunk.
He held up one hand.
“I know what happened to your brother’s dog.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“Then you know I should call police.”
“You should.”
His answer surprised me.
“Murphy’s death was cruel.”
I stared at him.
“Was it you?”
“No.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Again, calm.
He reached into his coat.
I stepped back.
He removed an envelope.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
I almost laughed.
“For what?”
“Leave the DeLuca estate. Finish your veterinary degree. Move your brother somewhere safer.”
My heart started pounding.
“You’re bribing me.”
“I’m offering you an exit.”
“From what?”
“From a family you do not understand.”
“You poisoned Atlas.”
“No.”
“You were at Pike Cold Storage when Elena died.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Atlas before Adrian brought him home.”
“Yes.”
At least he stopped lying about that.
Then I asked:
“Why is he afraid of you?”
For the first time, Graham looked away.
“Animals remember pain without understanding why it happened.”
“What pain?”
No answer.
I took out my phone.
Graham’s eyes moved to it.
“Recording me?”
“Yes.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
I had only just started.
But his reaction mattered.
He stepped closer.
“Listen carefully. Adrian thinks the world can be divided into good men and bad men now that he has enough legitimate money to forget where his family came from.”
“This isn’t about Adrian.”
“It is entirely about Adrian.”
His voice dropped.
“Atlas isn’t worth your brother.”
The parking lot suddenly felt very empty.
“That sounded like a threat.”
“It was advice.”
I dialed 911.
Graham walked away before the call connected.
Police documented the incident.
So did Adrian’s attorney.
The envelope contained cash.
No fingerprints useful beyond mine and Graham’s because he had openly handled it.
Still, the attempted payoff mattered.
Adrian suspended Graham from all company access that evening.
Not fired.
Suspended pending investigation.
Graham’s credentials were revoked.
Estate security codes changed.
His company accounts frozen where contractually permitted.
At 2:04 the next morning, someone tried using Graham’s old credentials to access the mansion security network remotely.
Blocked.
At 2:17, Atlas began barking at the east gate.
Security found nobody.
But beside the wall was another metal bowl.
Empty this time.
No poison.
Only a folded photograph.
Noah leaving school.
Taken that afternoon.
On the back:
STOP DIGGING.
Adrian looked at the photograph and said:
“Your brother moves here tonight.”
I almost objected.
May you like
Then I imagined Noah alone in our row house.
I packed before sunrise.
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