Chapter 7 - VICTORIA WAS THE ONE WHO BROKE THE FAMILY SECRET
Victoria agreed to meet Naomi.
Not me.
That was fine.
I sat in the adjoining conference room anyway.
Her attorney knew.
No tricks.
No secret listening.
The hospital had moved Daniel out of ICU that morning.
He was improving.
Weak.
Irritable.
Alive.
That gave me room to think.
Victoria entered Naomi’s temporary office wearing jeans and a gray sweater.
Without her foundation wardrobe, she looked like Daniel around the eyes.
Tired.
Stubborn.
Ashamed.
Naomi began.
“Did you give Daniel the second ledger?”
“Yes.”
Clean.
No dance.
“When?”
“Monday.”
“Why?”
Victoria stared at the table.
“Because Eric threatened me.”
“With the loan?”
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“Foundation grants kept flowing.”
“To his nonprofits?”
“Yes.”
“Were the grants legitimate?”
“Some.”
“How much did you know?”
Her voice dropped.
“I knew they paid project vendors.”
“Why participate?”
“Mom said it was temporary.”
There it was.
The family word.
Temporary.
Victoria continued.
“Aurora had eighteen months of cost overruns. The bank covenant was impossible.”
“So Celeste used foundation grants to offset expenses.”
“She said they funded community improvements required by the project.”
“Did they?”
“Some did.”
“And others?”
“No.”
Naomi leaned back.
“Why borrow $950,000 from Eric?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“My divorce.”
“What about it?”
“My ex-husband discovered I was seeing someone else.”
I felt no surprise.
Families like the Mercers did not produce secrets one at a time.
“He threatened to make it public during the foundation capital campaign.”
“So?”
“I panicked.”
“Eric gave you money?”
“To settle property claims privately.”
“In exchange for?”
“Nothing at first.”
“At first.”
Victoria nodded.
“Later he reminded me.”
“How?”
“He asked me to approve grant partners.”
“Did Celeste know?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
“Until recently.”
“Yes.”
“Why give him the ledger Monday?”
“Eric wanted another $600,000 foundation commitment.”
“You refused.”
“I tried.”
“What did he say?”
“That if I didn’t approve it, he would tell the board about the loan and the affair.”
“Blackmail.”
Her attorney said, “We’re not characterizing it legally.”
Fair.
Naomi continued.
“So you gave Daniel evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Why not foundation counsel?”
“Because Daniel would know what to do.”
I nearly laughed from the other room.
Daniel had spent years explaining Victoria’s behavior as pressure.
She had spent years assuming he would clean up her disasters.
Same orbit around each other.
“What happened when he confronted Celeste?”
Victoria started crying.
“She said I betrayed her.”
“Did she know you gave Daniel the books?”
“By Thursday.”
The day he collapsed.
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“Called me ungrateful.”
“What about Eric?”
“She said she would handle him.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Naomi paused.
“Did she give Eric something at the meeting?”
Victoria looked up.
“A bottle.”
“What bottle?”
“Water.”
“You told Mara Celeste took hers.”
“I thought she did.”
“Explain.”
Victoria rubbed her hands together.
“Daniel brought four bottles. Mom said hers was warm and pushed it toward Eric. Eric opened another from his bag.”
That was new.
“Another water bottle?”
“I think.”
“What happened to Daniel’s?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Celeste touch his bottle?”
“I saw her pick one up.”
“Which?”
“I don’t know.”
Real memory.
Frustrating.
Not enough.
Then Victoria said, “There was a pill.”
Naomi went still.
“What pill?”
“Daniel took one.”
“When?”
“Before he got dizzy.”
My stomach tightened.
“His potassium?”
Victoria nodded.
“He said he forgot his supplement.”
So Daniel’s collapse might have started because he was trying to correct low potassium himself.
“What did he take?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Eric give it to him?”
“No.”
“Celeste?”
“No. Daniel had a little pill container.”
That likely helped him rather than hurt him.
Unless he took the wrong thing.
No clean theory.
Naomi shifted.
“Why was midazolam in his system?”
Victoria started shaking her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see Eric administer anything?”
“No.”
“Your mother?”
“No.”
“Did you alter Daniel’s chart?”
“No.”
“You uploaded the revocation.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know it was false?”
“I thought he signed it.”
“Why?”
“Mom said he signed it Monday.”
“When he learned about the second books?”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know now.”
“Did you read it?”
“No.”
Naomi sighed.
Another person who did not read the dangerous page.
“Who gave it to Celeste?”
“Douglas.”
That changed the room.
The family attorney.
Not merely recipient.
Possible origin.
“When?”
“Thursday afternoon.”
“Before Daniel collapsed?”
“Yes.”
“So the revocation existed before the hospital.”
Victoria stared.
“I guess.”
I left the adjoining room and entered.
Her lawyer almost objected.
Victoria said, “It’s okay.”
I sat.
“Why did they prepare a revocation before Daniel went to the hospital?”
She looked at me.
“Mom said Daniel was going to remove all of us from authority.”
“Was he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he tell you he was removing me as proxy?”
“No.”
“So why Mara?”
Her eyes filled.
“Because you’d ask questions.”
There it was.
Not because I was harmful.
Because I was functional.
“Who knew about Daniel’s emergency directive?”
“I didn’t.”
“Celeste?”
“I don’t know.”
“Douglas?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Victoria looked at Naomi.
“There is something you should know about Douglas.”
“What?”
“He was Dad’s lawyer first.”
I frowned.
We knew Douglas had worked with the Mercers for years.
Victoria continued.
“Dad tried to fire him before he died.”
“Why?”
“Because of Eric.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“What about Eric?”
Victoria swallowed.
“Douglas drafted the old land LLC agreements.”
May you like
The lawyer had been in the story since 2008.
And he was the one who handed Celeste Daniel’s supposed revocation hours before Daniel collapsed.
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