Chapter 9: Bradley Fights Back
Harmon was a compact man in his early fifties with a careful way of speaking that made every sentence feel like it had been measured before it left his mouth.
He arrived at Conrad's house at nine the next morning with a colleague named Priya and a recorder he placed on the kitchen table with a small nod of permission before switching it on.
"Mrs.
Hill," he said.
"Thank you for your cooperation so far.
I want to walk you through what we found last night and what we'll need from you going forward."
"Whatever you need," Nora said.
"The shredded documents are being reconstructed.
We expect to have a readable portion within seventy-two hours.
The hard drives are with our forensic team." He folded his hands.
"In the meantime, Bradley Hill's attorney has filed a motion to suppress the security footage on the grounds that the account was accessed without Mr.
Hill's consent."
Nora looked at him.
"The account was in my name."
"Yes.
That's our position as well.
The motion will not succeed." Harmon's expression didn't change.
"However, I want you to be prepared.
Mr.
Hill's attorney has also sent a letter to the agency overseeing your placement.
The letter alleges that you entered the program with the deliberate intent to gather information against your husband, and that the placement itself was arranged as part of a coordinated effort."
"That's not true."
"I know.
The agency has already responded.
But I want you to hear it from me directly, because Mr.
Hill is going to escalate before he accepts that this is over." He looked at her steadily.
"He will try to make you the story.
He will try to make your credibility the question.
That is what people in his position do when the evidence is not going their way."
Nora nodded.
"What do you need from me?"
"A formal statement.
Everything you told Delia, on record.
The filing cabinet, the folders, the key, the conversation in the office yesterday." He paused.
"And anything else you remember from the four years you lived in that house.
Anything that seemed odd at the time and you set aside."
She talked for two hours.
Priya took notes.
Harmon listened with the focused stillness of someone who already knew most of what he was hearing and was looking for the one detail that completed the picture.
At the end, he clicked off the recorder.
"One more thing," he said.
"Mr.
Hill called Delia this morning."
Delia, who had arrived midway through the statement and was sitting at the far end of the table, didn't react.
"He offered to settle the Vance pension claim privately," Harmon continued.
"Full amount, plus interest.
In exchange for Delia withdrawing her cooperation with this investigation."
The kitchen was very quiet.
"She declined," Harmon said.
"But I want you both to know he made the offer, because it tells us something.
He is not fighting from a position of strength.
He is trying to limit damage." He stood.
"We'll be in touch within forty-eight hours."
After Harmon and Priya left, Delia poured herself coffee and leaned against the counter.
"He offered to pay," Conrad said.
He was looking at the table.
"Full amount," Delia said.
"With interest."
"And you said no."
"I said no." She looked at her brother.
"It was never about the money, Conrad.
You know that."
"I know." He was quiet for a moment.
"Dad would have said take it."
"Dad was too easy on people."
"Maybe." Conrad looked up.
"But he would have said take it and be done with it.
Stop letting it cost you."
Delia looked at her coffee.
"It's cost me two years already."
"I know."
A silence settled between them, old and familiar, the kind that belonged to people who had had some version of this conversation before.
Nora stood up and began clearing the cups from the table.
Not because it needed doing urgently, but because it was something to do with her hands while they found their way through it.
"He'll make another offer," she said.
"When this one doesn't work, he'll try something else.
That's who he is."
"Let him," Delia said.
That afternoon, he did.
Bradley called Nora directly.
She answered, because Harmon had asked her to keep the line open.
"This has gone far enough," Bradley said.
His voice was different now.
The controlled anger was gone.
What was underneath it was harder to name.
"I know you're working with Harmon's team.
I know what they're looking for.
And I'm telling you, Nora — there are things in those records that involve you.
Your signature.
Your name.
If this goes to a full investigation, you will not come out of it clean."
"What things?" she said.
"Documents you signed.
Transfers you authorized.
You handled my correspondence for four years.
You think that doesn't create a paper trail?"
"I signed what you put in front of me."
"And a jury won't know the difference." His voice dropped.
"Come back.
Tell Harmon you were confused, that Delia manipulated you.
I will handle the rest.
You walk away from this with nothing on your record and the house is yours.
I'll move out."
Nora looked across the room at Delia, who was listening on a second phone, recording.
"Bradley," Nora said.
"Do you remember what you said to your guests at the barbecue?
About me being a maid you didn't have to pay?"
A pause.
"What does that have to do with —"
"I just wanted to make sure you remembered it." She ended the call.
Delia lowered the second phone.
"That's the third attempt at obstruction in forty-eight hours."
"Will Harmon be able to use it?"
May you like
"Every single one." Delia set the phone on the table.
"He just handed us the ending."
