Chapter 79 - The Weekend That Couldn’t Wait
Dominic had booked a small hotel two hours north of the harbor. He had chosen a place with no conference rooms and promised not to bring a laptop. I had agreed because I was tired of making every pause conditional on a crisis being resolved.
We left Friday afternoon. For the first hour, we didn’t talk about the reserve, Adrian, or my father. Dominic asked what I wanted for dinner. I said something that did not arrive with a legal description.
He laughed. “That narrows it down.”
By the time we reached the hotel, my phone had buzzed four times. Nora’s message was only an update: the email chain had been added to the record, and counsel was reviewing it. No emergency. No response needed.
I put the phone in the drawer.
For a little while, I let myself believe the world could continue without my attention.
We walked beside a cold lake before dinner. Dominic kept his hands in his coat pockets until I reached for one.
“You used to think love meant being ready for the next disaster,” he said.
“I still do sometimes.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want you to have to prove you won’t leave every time I’m afraid.”
“I don’t want you to have to earn staying.”
I looked at him. “Those sound simple.”
“They aren’t.”
We stood by the water until the cold found its way through our coats. Then we went inside and ate in a dining room where nobody knew our names. It felt almost ordinary.
At breakfast, Nora called. A digital archive had returned a record from the old consultant’s file. The report had been sent to Charles and Adrian after Evelyn’s husband flagged the duplicate-looking payment. The report did not call it a duplicate. It said the second disbursement lacked a matching invoice and required supporting documentation before the account could be closed.
“Did they provide the documentation?” I asked.
“No record of it in the consultant’s file,” Nora said.
“Does the report say who received it?”
“No. The consultant didn’t have access to the bank statements. The report is a request for proof, not a conclusion.”
I stared through the window at the lake. We had found the missing report. It still didn’t tell us what happened to the money.
“Can we get the copies they received?”
“We’ve requested them. Charles’s attorney says they’re searching. Adrian’s says he may have had a separate copy.”
There was no way to keep the weekend separate from the case now. I did not put the phone away again.
When we returned to the harbor, I went straight to the center. Ruth had posted the schedule for the week. The classes were continuing in the main building, and the board had approved temporary support for utilities while the reserve review continued.
Madison was in the office, reading the full email chain with her attorney. She looked up.
“Rebecca says she thought the consent only covered the event,” she said. “Adrian’s office kept describing it as access alignment.”
“Did she tell you that when you signed?”
“No.”
“Did she know you weren’t shown the map?”
“She says she thought I opened the attachments.”
“What do you think?”
“I think she wanted me to sign before I had time to ask.”
Madison looked back at the chain. “I can’t prove what she thought.”
“You don’t have to. You can state what you remember.”
She nodded. “I’m going to do that.”
Outside, Elena arrived with the bank’s supplementary records. A second account had received a partial repayment from Harborline Services after the consultant’s report was issued. The repayment came from a new company whose officers included Adrian and Charles.
“Could that be reimbursement?” I asked.
May you like
“It could,” Elena said. “We need the account ledger to know.”
She looked at the final page. The repayment date was two days after the report reached both men.
