Chapter 2 - THE FRIEND WHO KNEW HER FIRST
Daniel photographed every page before touching anything else.
Then he placed the originals inside the small fireproof safe in his home office.
Evelyn sat in the doorway.
“You trust Mark?”
Daniel looked at the safe.
“I did.”
“That wasn't my question.”
He closed the door.
“No.”
It was the first honest answer he had given all day.
At WakeMed urgent care, the physician asked Evelyn questions Daniel wished someone else had asked sooner.
Had she fallen recently?
Yes.
Had she missed medication?
She didn't know.
Had anyone prevented her from using a telephone?
Evelyn looked at Daniel before answering.
“Yes.”
The physician's expression changed.
A nurse came in ten minutes later and asked Daniel to wait outside.
He did not argue.
He sat beneath a television showing muted local news and stared at the framed picture of a sailboat across from him.
His phone vibrated.
VANESSA.
Where are you?
He typed back.
Urgent care. Mom's blood pressure is high.
Three dots appeared.
Then vanished.
Then returned.
I told you she was making herself sick. Please don't let her manipulate you.
Daniel read it twice.
He didn't answer.
Mark called less than two minutes later.
Daniel stared at the name.
“Hey,” he said.
“Thought you were in Chicago.”
“Got home early.”
A pause.
Barely half a second.
“You didn't tell me.”
“Didn't know I needed permission.”
Mark laughed.
“Jesus. Rough trip?”
“Something like that.”
Daniel pictured the signature at the bottom of the transfer agreement.
Mark said, “You coming in tomorrow?”
“Probably.”
“Good. We need to talk about the Northline deal.”
Daniel frowned.
“What Northline deal?”
Another pause.
“The expansion package. We touched on it before you left.”
“No, we didn't.”
“Then I'm confusing conversations.”
“You usually don't.”
Mark chuckled again.
“Jet lag, man. Get some sleep.”
When the call ended, Daniel wrote one sentence in the Notes app.
MARK KNEW I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GONE UNTIL FRIDAY.
The nurse opened the door.
“Mr. Hale?”
Daniel stood.
“Your mother's stable, but the doctor wants to review her medications with whoever manages them at home.”
Daniel swallowed.
“That was supposed to be me.”
The nurse didn't comment.
She didn't need to.
An hour later, Evelyn left with a bruised wrist wrapped, a referral to her primary doctor, and a report noting the facial mark.
The nurse also gave Daniel the number for Wake County Adult Protective Services.
He stared at the paper.
Evelyn saw him.
“Don't hide it because you're embarrassed.”
“I'm not embarrassed.”
“Then what are you?”
He unlocked the car.
“Trying not to answer that.”
On the drive back to Cary, Evelyn asked him to stop at a Walgreens.
Her blood-pressure medication had no valid refill, which confused Daniel because Vanessa had told him two weeks earlier that everything had been picked up.
The pharmacist checked the system.
“This prescription was filled nine days ago.”
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Where?”
“Same store.”
“I didn't pick it up,” Evelyn said.
The pharmacist's expression became careful.
“I can't tell you who collected it without verifying authorization.”
Daniel provided the paperwork showing he was listed as an emergency contact, not a medical power of attorney.
It wasn't enough.
He nodded.
“Fine.”
Back in the car, Evelyn stared through the windshield.
“She took my insurance card last month.”
Daniel gripped the wheel.
“Vanessa?”
“She said you needed it.”
“I never asked for it.”
Evelyn shut her eyes.
Daniel finally called Claire.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“What happened?”
No hello.
No hesitation.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“How did you know something happened?”
“Because your mother called me yesterday and hung up when Vanessa came into the room.”
His throat tightened.
“Why didn't you call me?”
“I did.”
He remembered the seven missed calls.
“I was in meetings.”
“You were avoiding me.”
He had no defense.
“Claire, I found Mom on the kitchen floor.”
Silence.
Then, “Is she hurt?”
“Bruised wrist. Mark on her face.”
Another silence.
Longer.
“Where's Vanessa?”
“Gone for tonight.”
“For tonight?”
“I'm trying to understand what happened.”
Claire's voice hardened.
“Daniel, understanding isn't the first job right now. Keeping your mother safe is.”
He stared at the road.
“I know.”
“No. You know it now.”
Evelyn touched his arm.
“Tell her about the papers.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I found a transfer agreement for part of my company.”
Claire said nothing.
“My signature's forged.”
Still nothing.
“Mark witnessed it.”
Claire exhaled slowly.
“What company received the shares?”
“VKR Holdings.”
The line went quiet.
“Claire?”
“Spell it.”
He did.
He heard typing.
Then Claire said, “I'm sending you something.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
His phone buzzed.
Daniel opened the message.
The picture had been taken at a charity fundraiser in Raleigh. A date in the corner showed November 18 of the previous year.
Daniel had met Vanessa in January.
In the photograph, Mark stood near the ballroom doors holding a glass of bourbon.
Beside him was Vanessa.
She wasn't simply in the background.
Mark's hand rested on her lower back.
They were leaning toward each other as if sharing a private joke.
Daniel enlarged the image.
His stomach tightened.
“Where did you get this?”
“I took it.”
“You were there?”
“You were giving the donor speech.”
“Why didn't you show me?”
“I tried.”
Daniel remembered a fight after the fundraiser.
Claire asking why Mark had spent most of the evening whispering with a woman from a vendor company.
Daniel accusing her of monitoring his friends.
Claire said, “You told me I was becoming paranoid.”
He stared at the photograph.
“Did you know her name?”
“No.”
“Then how—”
“I know it now.”
Daniel heard something in her voice.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Claire hesitated.
“When Vanessa introduced herself to you in January, she acted like you'd never met.”
“Yes.”
“That part may have been true.”
“What are you saying?”
“I'm saying you may not have met Vanessa before January.”
Claire's next words landed harder.
“But Mark had.”
Daniel looked again at Mark's hand on Vanessa's back.
Then Claire sent a second image.
It was an expense report from Hale Specialty Packaging.
Dinner for two at Herons Restaurant in Cary.
November 19.
The morning after the fundraiser.
Submitted by Mark Tully.
May you like
The guest name had been entered as V. Kerr.
Claire said quietly, “Vanessa's last name before her divorce was Kerr.”
