Part 4
At the rehearsal dinner, Grant thanked me for welcoming him into the family.
He stood beneath the soft lights of Cedar Ridge Club with his glass raised, wearing the expression I had once found reassuring. Servers had just cleared the first course. The quartet near the terrace doors paused when he began to speak.
“Elaine has shown me what commitment looks like,” he told the room. “I hope Natalie and I can build something worthy of the example she and Arthur gave us.”
People applauded. I lifted my glass enough to acknowledge them.
Natalie sat beside him, looking down at a plate she had barely touched. She had chosen a pale blue dress for the evening and earrings Arthur had given her when she graduated from high school.
Earlier in the week, I had admired how well they suited her.
Now I watched the way her thumb kept moving across the little clasp of her bracelet. She did not look toward me when Grant sat down.
A guest leaned over to tell me how fortunate I was.
“Such a capable young man. And he clearly adores her.”
“Yes,” I said.
Grant came around the table while dessert was being served. He put his hand on the back of my chair and bent slightly toward me.
“You’ve been quiet tonight.”
“It’s been a busy week.”
“Tomorrow will be a long day. Promise me you’ll get some sleep.”
I looked up at him.
“I’ll do what I can.”
He smiled and returned to Natalie.
At eight-thirty, the dining-room doors opened.
Morozov came in alone.
I recognized him before he reached the head table. The photographs had not conveyed his size or the ease with which other people made room for him. He walked past a server who was carrying a tray and did not slow down.
Grant saw him and stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence.
Morozov leaned close to his ear.
I couldn’t hear the first words. Grant’s fingers tightened around his water glass, and a drop spilled onto the linen.
Then Morozov straightened.
“We still have a balance to discuss, Mr. Sutton. The end of the month is approaching.”
Several people at the next table turned.
Grant stood so quickly that his chair struck the leg of the chair behind him.
“This isn’t the place.”
Morozov glanced around the room, taking in the flowers, the quartet, and the expensive plates.
“You chose a very nice place.”
“Please.”
“When?”
Grant did not answer.
Morozov waited long enough to make the silence noticeable, then walked out.
Natalie caught Grant’s sleeve before he could follow.
“Who was that?”
“A business matter.”
“He didn’t sound like a business matter.”
“It’s a misunderstanding over an account. I’ll handle it.”
His voice was no longer smooth.
Across the table, a man asked whether everything was all right. Grant gave him a hurried reassurance and sat down. He drank the rest of his water without looking at anyone.
Natalie was frightened. That much was visible.
I still did not know how far the fear went, or what she had agreed to do before she began feeling it.
By ten, Miriam, Frank, Leonard, and Beatriz were in my study.
The wedding suppliers had left for the night. Outside, the completed tent stood pale against the dark lawn. Its open entrance faced the house.
Frank had brought a projector and a portable screen.
For the reception, he began with the sale of company information, where the clients could recognize what had been taken from them. The other evidence followed from there.
“Give them time to understand each document,” he said. “You don’t have to read every line.”
Miriam had marked the important portions.
“You’ll speak at eight twenty-five,” she said. “The closing system is set for nine. We’re working to stop the release before then.”
“The order?” Leonard asked.
“The application is before the judge. Supporting declarations are going in tonight. We have the false consent, the altered records, and Elaine’s explicit revocation of any authority Grant claims.”
“Will Grant know before the reception?”
“We’re requesting sealed proceedings while the necessary notices are arranged. I can’t promise how every recipient will handle its end.”
She placed a separate list beside her notes.
“The domestic institutions are cooperating. The closing agent still has documents queued for release. We need confirmation from them too.”
“And if they don’t respond?” I asked.
“We keep pressing. The order gives us the basis to stop it. It doesn’t make an unanswered message the same as a canceled closing.”
I studied the list of calls she had already made.
Frank changed the screen.
Irene Mercer’s photograph appeared. Her granddaughter had arranged a video connection from her home.
“She’s ready,” he said. “We tested the link this afternoon.”
She appeared ordinary in the way people do when their ordeal is not visible. A neat blouse. Carefully combed hair. A picture hanging behind her.
Miriam went through the next steps.
Law enforcement had received the evidence. Officers assigned to the financial investigation would attend in plain clothes. Security would be positioned by the exits so that Grant and Hargrove could not disrupt the presentation or reach me.
“The officers will make their own decisions,” Miriam said. “If they need to act earlier, you let them.”
“I will.”
Leonard studied the list of guests.
“The clients need to see the correspondence,” he said. “Especially Meridian and Lakeshore. They’ve been treating us as though we simply failed them.”
“They’ll see it.”
“And the board?”
“The same.”
He turned the page.
“What happens when Natalie’s name comes up?”
Nobody answered immediately.
The projector fan ran behind us. A branch brushed the window.
“I will tell the truth I can support,” I said. “The documents sent to her described thirty percent. The actual closing papers move everything.”
“That’s important,” Miriam said.
“It doesn’t tell us why she kept it from me.”
“No.”
Beatriz was seated nearest the door. Until then, she had kept her hands folded in her lap, listening as though there might still be some way the papers could mean less than they did.
Now she shifted forward.
“Mrs. Whitaker, there’s something I should have said.”
I turned toward her.
She looked at Natalie’s photograph on the shelf, then lowered her eyes.
“Last week, I was putting the serving pieces away. They were in the kitchen.”
“Grant and Natalie?”
“Yes.”
The skin beneath her eyes had reddened.
“She was crying. I don’t usually listen when people are upset. I was going to leave.”
“What did you hear?”
“Natalie said she couldn’t do it to you. She said it twice.”
Leonard set down his papers.
Beatriz pressed her palms together. “Grant caught her arm. He told her they had gone too far for her to change her mind. She tried to pull away, and he kept holding on…”
To read the rest of the story – CLICK the NEXT button 👇👇👇