Chapter 6: The Story She Told
By seven the next morning, the headline had been shared forty thousand times.
Nathan read the full article in Detective Reyes's office while Grace sat across from him and Lily ate a granola bar from the vending machine in the hallway.
Victoria had given an exclusive interview to a financial news outlet at midnight.
She described Grace as a former employee with a pattern of delusional attachment, said the child's paternity claim was unverified and almost certainly false, and called the incident in the kitchen a misunderstanding that had been deliberately distorted.
She had not mentioned the hockey stick.
She had not mentioned what she said before she raised it.
"She's good," Detective Reyes said, reading over Nathan's shoulder.
She was fifty-three, wore no jewelry, and had the manner of someone who had heard every version of every story and was still listening carefully.
"This was written with legal input.
Someone coached her on exactly what to include and what to leave out."
"Her father," Nathan said.
"Almost certainly." Reyes set down the article.
"Tell me about the police report."
Nathan walked her through it.
Daniel had sent over Marcus's signed statement at six that morning.
Reyes read it twice, asked four precise questions, and then sat back.
"The report was filed by Edward Hartwell directly," she said.
"Not Victoria.
That matters.
It means he was coordinating this before the incident in the kitchen was even over.
He had the language ready."
"He knew it was going to happen," Grace said from across the room.
Reyes looked at her.
"Ms.
— I'm sorry, your last name?"
"Calloway," Grace said.
"Grace Calloway."
"Ms.
Calloway.
The report describes you as a flight risk.
It claims you had a bag packed and a car booked to the airport." Reyes paused.
"Did you?"
"No."
"Is there anything at the Cole house that could be made to look like that?
A bag near the door, a ride-share app open on your phone, anything?"
Grace was quiet for a moment.
Then her face changed.
"My phone," she said.
"I had a ride-share app open yesterday morning.
I was going to take Lily to the park.
I never cancelled the booking when—" She stopped.
"When Victoria came into the kitchen."
"So there's a pending booking on your phone to an address near the airport?"
"Near the park.
But the park is four blocks from the domestic terminal."
Reyes wrote something down.
"They'll use that.
It won't hold, but it'll slow things down." She looked at Nathan.
"I need the envelope contents.
The agreement, the letter, the photograph.
I need them formally entered."
"Daniel is filing them with the family court this morning," Nathan said.
"Paternity test is already scheduled for nine o'clock."
"Good.
Now." Reyes folded her hands.
"Gerald Pruitt.
Marcus Cole named him as the individual who delivered the fabricated letter to Ms.
Calloway five years ago.
Do you have a current address?"
"Not yet."
"I do," Reyes said.
She slid a printed page across the desk.
"Gerald Pruitt, forty-one, currently employed by Hartwell Security Consulting as a senior investigator.
He has a company vehicle registered in New Jersey.
He was in this city yesterday.
His keycard accessed the Hartwell Industries building at six forty-five a.m."
Grace stared at the page.
"He was there," she said.
"While it was happening.
He was right there."
"He may have been the one who confirmed your location to Victoria," Reyes said.
"Which means he's either a witness or a co-conspirator, depending on what he knew." She looked at Nathan.
"I want to bring him in for a conversation before Hartwell's attorneys get to him.
But I need something from you first."
"What?"
"I need you to understand that when I do this, it becomes official.
It stops being a private matter.
The Hartwells will know within the hour, and they will come at you with everything they have." She paused.
"Are you ready for that?"
Nathan thought about the article.
Victoria's photograph.
The forty thousand shares.
He thought about Lily eating a granola bar in the hallway.
"Do it," he said.
Reyes picked up her phone.
She made one call, said six words, and hung up.
"He'll be at the precinct by noon," she said.
"Now go get your daughter's paternity test done.
I'll call you when Pruitt arrives."
---
They were back at Daniel's office by ten-thirty when Victoria called Nathan's phone directly.
He answered.
Put it on speaker.
"I saw that you met with Marcus last night," Victoria said.
Her voice was careful.
Controlled.
"I want you to think very carefully about what you're doing, Nathan."
"I am thinking carefully," he said.
"That's why I answered."
"Marcus is not reliable.
Whatever he told you — he has his own reasons.
His division funding is contingent on our merger closing.
He would say anything to protect himself."
"He signed a statement, Victoria.
Under oath."
A pause.
"Statements can be challenged."
"So can police reports," Nathan said.
"Especially fabricated ones."
The silence this time was longer.
"I loved you," Victoria said.
"I want you to remember that.
Whatever happens next — I genuinely loved you."
"I know you believed that," Nathan said.
"But you raised a hockey stick over a four-year-old girl.
So I think we have different definitions of the word."
He ended the call.
Grace was watching him from across the room.
She didn't say anything.
She didn't need to.
His phone rang again immediately.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Mr.
Cole." The voice was male, older, slightly hoarse.
"My name is Gerald Pruitt.
I understand you've been looking for me." A pause.
"I'd like to talk before the detective does.
May you like
There are things you don't know yet.
Things about your father's letter that weren't in the envelope."
