Chapter 5: A Deal He Should Not Have Offered
Daniel's attorney was a man named Prescott — silver-haired, careful, the kind of lawyer who spoke in paragraphs and charged by the syllable.
He called Grace at eleven-forty.
By one o'clock, Grace and I were seated across a conference table from him in a downtown office, Lily resting at Grace's apartment two blocks away with one of Marcus's staff watching over her.
Prescott opened with condolences about the fire.
Grace let him finish.
"My client is prepared to offer a full and final settlement," he said.
"Given the circumstances, he believes a clean separation is in everyone's interest."
"Define clean," Grace said.
Prescott slid a document across the table.
I didn't touch it.
"The country house transfers to Mrs.
Hale-Mercer outright," he said.
"Daniel retains his business interests and the city apartment.
Lily's support is set at a generous figure — I think you'll find the number fair.
Both parties agree to a mutual non-disclosure on the events of last night."
I looked at the document without picking it up.
"He wants me to sign an NDA about a fire that the marshals are investigating as suspicious origin," I said.
Prescott's expression didn't change.
"My client maintains that the fire was accidental and that the door mechanism was a tragic malfunction.
He simply wants to protect his family's privacy during what is clearly a painful—"
"His family," I said.
Prescott stopped.
"He left his family on the second floor of a burning building," I said.
"Then he asked for a settlement before my daughter's oxygen levels were even confirmed."
"Mrs.
Hale-Mercer—"
"The four million dollars," Grace said.
"We'd like that addressed before we discuss anything else."
Prescott's pause was less than a second, but it was there.
"I'm not sure what you're referring to."
Grace opened her folder and placed a single page on the table.
Account numbers.
Transfer dates.
Amounts.
A clean, precise column of fourteen months of quiet theft.
Prescott looked at it.
"My client made a number of routine financial adjustments during a period of business restructuring—"
"Fourteen months," Grace said.
"Accelerating immediately after Colonel Hale's death.
Routed through three holding structures my client did not authorize and was not informed of." She placed a second page beside the first.
"Along with a property amendment filed without her knowledge, cameras disabled by a work order co-signed by his business partner, and a door locked from the outside during a fire." She folded her hands.
"Which settlement framework were you planning to use for that?"
The room was very quiet.
Prescott gathered the documents Grace had placed on the table and straightened them, which was something to do with his hands.
"I'll need to consult with my client," he said.
"Of course," Grace said.
He stood.
I stood.
"Mrs.
Hale-Mercer," he said.
"Daniel asked me to tell you — he still loves you.
He made mistakes.
He knows that.
But he believes this can be resolved without destroying everything."
I picked up my bag.
"Tell Daniel," I said, "that the time to think about destroying everything was before he turned the lock."
I walked out first.
In the elevator, Grace looked straight ahead at the closed doors.
"He'll go back to Daniel and tell him the NDA is off the table," she said.
"Daniel will panic.
When Daniel panics, he makes decisions quickly."
"What kind of decisions?"
The elevator opened.
We stepped out into the lobby.
"The kind," Grace said, "that tend to produce witnesses."
My phone buzzed.
Marcus.
I answered before the second ring.
"Tell me," I said.
May you like
"Vanessa Cole just called our office," Marcus said.
"She wants to talk."
