Chapter 2
I pulled Adrian into the study and shut the door.
“What votes?”
He stared at my wet dress.
“Look at me,” I said.
His eyes rose to mine.
“The votes to put me out?” I asked.
He nodded.
I had expected a denial. The truth from his mouth hurt more.
“Why did you stand there?”
“I couldn’t stop it.”
“You could have spoken.”
Adrian rubbed both hands over his face. “Dante said if I warned you, he’d tell Serena what happened at the river terminal.”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.
“What happened?”
“Three months ago, Grant asked me to approve a late shipment. He said it was a gift order for the engagement. I signed the release without checking the cargo.”
“What was in it?”
“I found out later. Counterfeit medication. Dante has my signature on the release.”
I walked to my desk, then turned back.
“You came to me every Sunday for dinner. You sat across from me and said nothing.”
“I wanted to fix it before you knew.”
“And tonight?”
“He said the board only wanted you to step aside while we settled the shipment. He said nobody would hurt you.”
I looked at my son’s face. He seemed frightened and ashamed. I believed both feelings were real.
“You saw Serena strike me,” I said.
“I know.”
“Who told you to stay quiet then?”
“No one.”
There was the answer I needed.
I opened the door. “Go back to the garden. Tell Dante you spoke to me about the party, nothing else.”
“Mother—”
“If he believes I know about the shipment, he may destroy the records. I need time.”
Adrian moved toward me, then stopped.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
I waited. He left without touching me.
Rosa came in a few minutes later with dry clothes. I asked her to preserve the torn sleeve of my dress and the photographs she had taken after I came inside. She had already given the police her account of what she saw from the terrace.
“Did you notice anything before Serena took the hose?” I asked.
Rosa thought for a moment.
“Grant spoke to the waiters by the fountain. He had them refill the glasses. Even people who said no received one.”
“Did he give a toast?”
“No. Dante sent a message, and Grant raised his own glass first.”
The signal had been arranged before the party began.
I changed and returned to my study. A patrol officer called to say he was outside. I gave him my statement about the hose, the slap, and Grant’s shove. I told him I had stopped both Grant and Serena from grabbing me again. Rosa gave him her photographs. I asked for the report number and wrote it down.
By then, most guests had gone. Dante remained.
He came into the study without waiting for an invitation. He had done that since my husband died, when I had asked him to help Adrian learn the business.
“I hear you’ve involved the police,” he said.
“Serena assaulted me.”
“She embarrassed herself. We can deal with it inside the family.”
“An officer has taken my statement.”
Dante studied my face.
“You look tired, Eleanor.”
“I was drenched at my son’s party.”
“I mean before tonight. You’ve carried the company for so long.”
I knew then how he intended to speak at the board meeting. He would sound concerned while asking to take my chair.
“You brought an empty glass into the garden,” I said.
“I didn’t want champagne.”
“You raised it anyway.”
For the first time, he looked away.
“People are worried,” he said. “Let us help you.”
“Go home, Dante.”
His expression cooled. He walked out, leaving the door open behind him.
Miriam arrived after midnight with copies of the board notice. The doctor’s statement said I had failed a cognitive assessment. Its date was the previous Tuesday, when I had spent the entire afternoon with a shipping insurer and four witnesses.
“We can challenge it,” she said.
“Find out who paid him.”
“We’re already looking.”
Miriam spread the company rules across my desk. The board could suspend me by a two-thirds vote if it accepted evidence that I could not serve. Adrian’s shares were enough to push Dante’s supporters over that line.
“What happens to my voting shares?” I asked.
“They remain yours. But a temporary chief executive could authorize the sale of the river terminal if the board approves.”
The terminal had lost money for years. Dante had recently urged me to sell it to a buyer he would not name.
“Who wants it?”
“We’re tracing the buyer.”
My phone lit up. A message from a number I did not know contained a photograph.
It showed Grant at the edge of the garden before the reception. He was handing small folded cards to guests.
A second message followed.
I served drinks tonight. I heard what he told them. Please don’t give Dante my name yet.
I showed Miriam.
“Reply,” she said. “Ask to meet somewhere safe.”
I typed a short answer. The sender gave me an address and a time: six in the morning, at a diner near the station.
Before Miriam left, Adrian came back. He had waited for Dante to go.
“I can withdraw my support tomorrow,” he said.
“You can. Will you?”
“Dante has the shipping release.”
“Then bring me everything you have.”
He took out his phone. His hand shook as he opened a message from Dante.
Attached was a photograph of a second document. Adrian had signed it that afternoon.
May you like
At the top were the words: APPOINTMENT OF TEMPORARY VOTING PROXY.
The proxy was Dante.
