Chapter 5: Someone He Trusted Completely
Hannah did not go to Walter.
Not yet.
She needed to think clearly, and thinking clearly meant separating what she knew from what she suspected.
Rebecca had written that Claire wasn't working alone.
That someone inside the house was involved.
That was not proof of Walter.
It was a direction.
She spent the rest of the afternoon watching.
At four o'clock, Walter brought Nicholas his afternoon tea personally.
He did this every day — Hannah had noted it in her first week as a routine, something she had filed under *household customs* without examining further.
Now she watched from the doorway as Walter set the tray down, exchanged a few quiet words with Nicholas, and left.
Hannah waited until Walter was gone.
Then she went in.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"The same." Nicholas looked at the tea.
"Tired."
"Don't drink that yet."
He looked up at her.
She crossed to the tray and picked up the cup.
She set it aside and replaced it with a glass of water from the sealed bottle she had started carrying in her pocket two days ago.
"Hannah."
"I need to ask you something about Walter."
Nicholas's expression didn't change.
That itself was an answer of a kind.
"How long has he worked for your family?"
"Thirty years.
He worked for my father before me."
"Does he have financial interest in the Valenti holdings?
Any arrangement beyond his salary?"
A pause.
"He has a long-term advisory agreement.
Standard for someone at his level.
Why?"
"Rebecca wrote that Claire wasn't working alone.
That someone inside this house was involved."
Nicholas was very still.
"She wrote this?"
"In her journal.
Eleven days before she d*ed."
He looked at the window.
The lake had gone dark with the early evening, the water black and flat.
"Walter introduced me to Claire," he said.
Hannah waited.
"Eight months before the accident.
A charity event.
He said she came from a good family, that she was exactly the kind of woman who would be an asset." He paused on the word.
"I thought he meant socially.
I was building certain relationships at the time.
I didn't question it."
"Did he encourage the engagement?"
"He drafted the announcement." Nicholas's voice had gone very quiet.
"He said it was good for stability.
That after the accident, the business community needed to see that I was — anchored."
Hannah sat down across from him.
"Nicholas.
I need you to tell me about the accident."
He looked at her for a long moment.
"I was driving back from a meeting north of the city.
Night road, no other cars.
My brakes failed on a descent.
The car went through a barrier." He said it the way people described things they had described many times — the words worn smooth.
"The investigation found a mechanical fault.
Brake line failure.
Ruled accidental."
"Who knew your route that night?"
"My assistant.
My driver, who I'd sent home early.
And Walter, who had arranged the meeting."
The room held that information for a moment.
"I'm not telling you Walter is responsible," Hannah said carefully.
"I'm telling you what Rebecca wrote, and I'm telling you what I see.
You should decide what to do with it."
"What do you see?"
"I see a man who introduced you to a woman who is p0isoning you.
Who arranged the meeting you were driving home from the night your brakes failed.
Who has a financial agreement tied to your continued — incapacity."
Nicholas closed his eyes briefly.
"If Walter is involved," he said, "then he has access to everything.
Security.
Communications.
Legal documents.
He would know the moment I began to suspect him."
"Yes."
"Which means we cannot move against Claire without him knowing.
And we cannot move against him without evidence."
"Diane is sending me Rebecca's copies of the altered bloodwork tonight."
Nicholas opened his eyes.
"Diane Marsh?
Rebecca's friend from the firm?"
"She's been afraid.
She has a daughter."
Something shifted in his face.
Not softness exactly.
More like the recognition of a debt.
"She should have come to me."
"She didn't know if she could trust you.
She didn't know what you knew or what you'd been told."
He absorbed that.
"The lab results from your tablets should come back within forty-eight hours," Hannah said.
"When they do, I need you to have someone outside this house ready to act.
Someone Walter doesn't control.
Someone who can move quickly."
"I have a lawyer.
Marcus Reeve.
He's never worked directly with Walter — he handles a separate division.
I trust him."
"Contact him tomorrow.
Don't use the house phones.
Don't use your regular cell."
She reached into her pocket and set a plain prepaid phone on the table beside him.
"I bought it this morning," she said.
"Cash.
At a pharmacy in Berwyn."
Nicholas looked at the phone.
Then at her.
"You bought this before you found Rebecca's journal."
"I bought it the morning after you woke up confused and said her name."
He was quiet for a moment.
"You've been protecting me since before you had any reason to."
"I had a reason," Hannah said.
"It's called doing my job."
She stood to leave.
"Hannah." His voice stopped her at the door.
"The tea Walter brings every afternoon.
How long do you think—"
"I don't know yet.
But I'm having it tested with the tablets."
She picked up the cup on her way out.
In the corridor, she passed Claire coming the other direction.
Claire's eyes went to the teacup in Hannah's hand.
"Clearing up?" Claire said pleasantly.
"He didn't want it," Hannah said.
"He asked for water."
Claire watched her walk away.
Hannah did not look back.
But she heard, very faintly, the sound of Claire's footsteps stopping.
May you like
Then, after a pause, the sound of her turning and walking quickly toward the east wing.
Toward Walter's office.
