Chapter 10 - The Woman Before CorinneCorinne and Reid had known each other for seven years.
That fact became certain when investigators located Elise Harmon.
Elise had worked with both of them at Halberd Financial.
She agreed to meet Detective Ortiz and Mara in a quiet law office in Denver.
Grant attended remotely because he refused to leave Sadie.
Elise looked uncomfortable from the beginning.
“I knew something was wrong with them,” she said.
Ortiz asked, “Romantically?”
Elise shook her head.
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“They were partners.”
“In business?”
“In schemes.”
Mara leaned forward.
“What kind?”
Elise looked toward the recorder.
“Are you protecting me?”
Ortiz explained the limits.
Elise nodded.
“Halberd fired Reid after an internal investigation.”
Grant’s voice came through the speaker.
“Reid told me he left voluntarily.”
“He didn’t.”
“Why was he fired?”
“Unauthorized investment structures. Conflicts of interest. Moving clients toward entities he secretly benefited from.”
Mara’s expression tightened.
“Northcove.”
“That sounds like him.”
“And Corinne?”
Elise sighed.
“She survived the investigation because Reid took most of the blame.”
“Were they already together?”
“Financially, yes.”
Elise folded her hands.
“They believed wealthy clients were stupid. That was their phrase.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Elise continued.
“They’d identify an owner with weak controls. Reid handled money. Corinne handled people.”
Ortiz asked, “Meaning?”
“She was good at becoming whatever someone needed.”
Grant stared at the screen.
Elise looked uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“She could make people feel chosen.”
Grant said nothing.
That was exactly how Corinne had made him feel.
Two years after Dana’s death, Grant had attended a charity dinner.
Corinne had been seated beside him.
She had known when to ask about Dana.
When to stop.
When to make him laugh without making him feel guilty for laughing.
Grant had thought her emotional intelligence was kindness.
Now he wondered whether it had been research.
Elise continued.
“After Halberd, I heard Reid was rebuilding his career in Colorado.”
“He became my CFO.”
“Yes.”
“And Corinne?”
“She stayed in private consulting.”
Grant’s voice hardened.
“Until she met me.”
Nobody responded.
Elise hesitated.
“There’s one more thing.”
Ortiz waited.
“Corinne asked me about you.”
Grant looked at the screen.
“When?”
“About three months before you publicly started dating.”
Grant felt the room disappear.
“What did she ask?”
“Whether you were emotionally stable after your wife died.”
Sadie was in the adjacent hotel room with Dr. Evelyn Price.
Grant looked toward the closed connecting door.
“What else?”
“Whether you were dating.”
“Anything about Sadie?”
Elise nodded reluctantly.
“She asked whether your daughter lived with you full-time.”
Grant leaned back.
Mara closed her eyes.
The marriage had been targeted.
Perhaps not every emotion had been false.
But its beginning had been.
Grant remembered Corinne telling the story of how fate had placed them beside each other at the gala.
There had been no fate.
She had arranged the seating through a donor committee.
Police later confirmed it.
Sadie emerged from therapy and found Grant sitting alone.
“You look mad.”
“I am.”
“At Corinne?”
“Yes.”
Sadie sat opposite him.
“Did they find her?”
“Not yet.”
She studied him.
“Did you find something worse?”
Grant had promised himself he would not burden her with adult details.
But he also refused to create another house full of secrets.
“We learned Corinne knew Reid before she met me.”
Sadie frowned.
“The company man?”
“Yes.”
“She said she didn’t.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“They were planning to use our company.”
Sadie understood.
“And me.”
Grant swallowed.
“Yes.”
Sadie looked down.
“So she never loved us?”
Grant thought carefully.
“I can’t tell you what she felt.”
“She tried to kill me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not love.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Did you love her?”
Grant’s eyes filled unexpectedly.
“I loved who I thought she was.”
Sadie nodded.
“That sounds sad.”
“It is.”
For a moment, she seemed older than ten.
Then she asked, “Can I have ice cream?”
Grant laughed despite himself.
“Yes.”
“With chocolate syrup?”
“Yes.”
“Dad?”
“What?”
“If I almost died, I think I should get extra.”
“You absolutely should.”
It was the first ordinary conversation they had shared since Granite Crown.
Grant almost cried over ice cream.
That night, Corinne finally contacted someone.
Not Grant.
Not police.
She called Mara Vaughn.
Mara recorded the conversation with Ortiz listening.
“I want immunity,” Corinne said.
Mara remained calm.
“For attempted murder?”
“You don’t know what happened.”
“Sadie does.”
“Reid planned everything.”
Mara’s expression sharpened.
There it was.
The fracture.
Corinne continued.
“He controlled the money. He chose the property. He told me what had to happen.”
Mara replied, “And you pushed a child off a cliff.”
Silence.
Then Corinne whispered:
“I have evidence Grant will want.”
“What evidence?”
“Proof Reid has been stealing from Mercer Ridge for years.”
Mara glanced toward Ortiz.
Corinne continued.
“And proof Dana found out before she died.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“What did you say?”
May you like
“Grant’s first wife knew.”
The line went dead.
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