Chapter 8 - What Happened the Night Matthew Was Born
No one spoke.
Even Arthur seemed to understand the power of what he had just said.
Clara stared at him.
“Keep me alive from what?”
Arthur looked toward Naomi.
“This conversation does not include counsel.”
Naomi smiled.
“Everything includes counsel now.”
Victoria stood.
“You will answer her.”
Arthur looked at his wife as if seeing an employee refuse an order.
“Victoria.”
“No.”
Her voice trembled.
But she repeated it.
“No.”
Arthur rubbed his jaw.
Then he walked back into the study.
For several seconds, no one followed.
Finally Clara did.
The others entered behind her.
Arthur poured whiskey.
“Eleanor discovered something before she died.”
“What?”
“An account.”
“That narrows nothing.”
Arthur drank.
“She had invested in a technology company years earlier.”
Daniel frowned.
“Helix Meridian?”
Arthur looked at him.
“You always were annoyingly observant.”
Clara said, “What company?”
“Not Helix. Helix came later.”
He reached for a file.
Naomi stopped him.
“Hands where we can see them.”
Arthur laughed.
“You think I’m armed?”
“I think you’re a man who has spent years assuming consequences happen to other people.”
Arthur’s amusement vanished.
He opened a drawer slowly.
A folder came out.
MERIDIAN SYSTEMS.
Inside were shareholder documents.
Eleanor had owned 14.8 percent.
Clara’s trust inherited her shares.
Arthur said, “At the time of Eleanor’s death, the company was restructuring.”
“What did it make?”
“Data architecture.”
“Meaning?”
“Financial routing. Identity verification. Private transaction systems.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Helix built its clearing platform on Meridian code.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“Yes.”
Clara looked between them.
“So Grandma’s shares were valuable.”
“Potentially.”
“How valuable?”
Arthur shrugged.
“Depending on the acquisition terms, perhaps sixty million.”
Chloe made a strangled sound.
Victoria gripped the chair.
Clara stared.
“You stole sixty million dollars.”
“No.”
Arthur slammed down his glass.
“I prevented a disaster.”
“What disaster?”
“You.”
Clara almost laughed.
“Me?”
“You were twenty-eight. Pregnant. Emotional. You had no understanding of what you controlled.”
“So you forged my signature.”
“You were unconscious.”
The words came out so casually that Clara felt physically ill.
Arthur continued.
“The deal had a deadline.”
Naomi said, “That is not a defense.”
“I’m not defending it to you.”
Clara took one step toward him.
“What happened with Evelyn?”
Arthur looked at her.
“Evelyn refused to authorize the transfer after Eleanor’s death.”
“But the photograph.”
“She changed her mind.”
“Why?”
Arthur hesitated.
Clara saw it.
Fear again.
“Why?”
“Because another group wanted the shares.”
“Who?”
Arthur did not answer.
Daniel said, “Grant.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Grant worked for them.”
“Who is them?”
Arthur paced toward the window.
“There were competing investors.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you need.”
Clara’s voice sharpened.
“I was unconscious in a hospital while you moved my hand across a legal document.”
Arthur turned.
“I was trying to keep the shares from people who would have done far worse.”
“Then why did Evelyn disappear?”
“She knew too much.”
“About your crimes?”
“No.”
Arthur’s eyes locked on Clara.
“About Matthew.”
Clara stopped breathing.
Victoria whispered, “Arthur.”
He continued.
“You think the hospital photographs were about your signature.”
“They were.”
“Partly.”
Arthur looked at Clara with an expression she had never seen.
Not contempt.
Not anger.
Something almost like pity.
“Matthew’s birth records were altered.”
Clara’s heart slammed.
“What?”
“There was an incident.”
“What incident?”
Victoria began crying.
“Arthur, stop.”
Clara turned to her mother.
“You knew?”
Victoria shook her head too quickly.
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“She knew enough.”
Clara walked toward Victoria.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Tell me what?”
Victoria covered her mouth.
Chloe whispered, “Mom?”
Clara’s hands went cold.
“What happened to my son?”
May you like
Arthur spoke from behind them.
“Matthew was not the only baby in that room.”
