Chapter 4 - The Woman Adrian Recommended
Ryan should have been upstairs.
Miranda knew that.
But after what Lorraine had done, sending him away every time adults discussed something frightening felt too much like repeating Lorraine’s message: children saw things, but adults decided whether those things mattered.
Miranda held out her hand.
“Come here.”
Ryan approached slowly.
“Is Uncle Adrian bad?”
There it was.
The question Miranda had hoped she would never need to answer.
Adrian was technically the boys’ uncle by marriage—the older brother of their late father. He had bought Ryan his first bicycle. He had held Bennett at his baptism. At Evan’s funeral, he had carried Bennett when Miranda was too numb to stand.
Miranda chose her words carefully.
“We don’t know everything yet.”
“But Lorraine knows him?”
“We don’t know that either.”
Ryan looked at Claire’s laptop.
“Then why did she say stuff about Dad’s company?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
Ryan thought for a moment.
“She talked to somebody in the pantry.”
Miranda froze.
“When?”
“A lot.”
“On the phone?”
Ryan nodded.
“What did she say?”
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“What do you remember?”
He shut his eyes.
“She said, ‘He’s getting suspicious.’”
Claire and Miranda exchanged a glance.
“Who was getting suspicious?” Claire asked.
“I thought she meant Bennett because he kept following her.”
Ryan swallowed.
“But then she said, ‘The older one notices too much.’”
Miranda felt physically ill.
“Ryan…”
“And yesterday she said, ‘I found the envelope, but the code isn’t there.’”
Claire stood.
“What code?”
Ryan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Miranda stared toward the study.
Evan had used codes for financial archives.
Not passwords exactly.
References.
Dates.
Project numbers.
He hated storing everything digitally.
After his death, Miranda had found boxes of old ledgers in a secure records room beneath Hale Meridian’s original headquarters. Most had been scanned.
But Evan had kept a small fireproof safe at home.
Miranda had never known the combination.
They entered the study after police released the room later that afternoon.
Ryan remained with Bennett and a family friend upstairs.
The safe sat behind a wooden panel near Evan’s old desk.
Miranda pressed her hand against it.
“I haven’t opened this since he died.”
Claire inspected the keypad.
“Any idea what code Evan used?”
“No.”
Miranda remembered the missing envelope.
If needed.
Maybe the code had been inside.
Claire’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, and immediately turned away from Miranda.
“What do you mean she posted bond?”
Miranda looked up.
Claire ended the call.
“Lorraine was processed on the allegations stemming from today. The exact charging decisions are still with prosecutors. She’s being released pending further proceedings.”
Miranda’s face hardened.
“She’s free?”
“For now. There can be protective conditions. She cannot simply come back here.”
Miranda looked toward the doorway.
“Good.”
Claire did not relax.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“My investigator pulled Lorraine’s employment history.”
“And?”
“She didn’t exist as Lorraine Brooks until six years ago.”
Miranda stared.
“People change names.”
“Yes.”
“What was hers?”
Claire hesitated.
“Lorraine Voss.”
Miranda searched her memory.
Nothing.
Claire continued.
“Her previous employer was not a family.”
“Then who?”
“Northstar Residential Services.”
The same company that had received the Hale Meridian money.
Miranda’s mouth went dry.
Claire handed her the investigator’s summary.
Lorraine had worked for Northstar in “executive residential management.”
The person who had signed her final employment verification was Adrian Hale.
Miranda sank into Evan’s desk chair.
“He knew her.”
“Yes.”
“He personally verified her.”
“Yes.”
“And then he recommended the agency that placed her in my home.”
Claire nodded.
Miranda looked around the room.
Evan’s books.
Evan’s chair.
Evan’s family photographs.
Adrian had stood in this study after the funeral with his arm around Miranda and promised to protect everything his brother left behind.
Now she wondered whether he had been searching for something before Evan was even buried.
Her phone rang.
Adrian.
Miranda and Claire stared at the screen.
“Answer it,” Claire said. “Don’t accuse him. Listen.”
Miranda placed the call on speaker.
“Hello?”
Adrian’s voice came through immediately.
“Miranda, thank God. I just heard about Lorraine.”
Miranda said nothing.
“I’m horrified,” Adrian continued. “Are the boys okay?”
“They’re shaken.”
“I’m coming over.”
“No.”
A pause.
“Excuse me?”
“I said no.”
“Miranda, you shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“I’m not.”
Another pause.
Then Adrian asked a question that made Claire’s eyes narrow.
“Did the police go into Evan’s study?”
Miranda looked at the locked safe.
“Yes.”
Adrian breathed out.
May you like
Almost silently.
Then he said, “Did they find anything?”
