After they hung up, he sat in Luis’s shop and looked at the photograph of the group by the lake.
Peter’s hand on Theo’s shoulder seemed ordinary and suddenly unbearable.
He was not a symbol, not a clue, not the dead brother at the center of Richard’s scheme.
He had been a teenager leaning toward a friend on a sunny afternoon, unaware that strangers would spend years fighting over the meaning of his last evening.
The conservator in Providence was a woman named Naomi Pierce who specialized in preserving documents damaged by floodwater.
She worked from a converted textile mill filled with racks of drying paper and flat storage drawers.
Mara reached her through an attorney and asked whether she had received a parcel from Hale Meridian earlier that year.
Naomi said she could not discuss a client’s property without authorization, but she confirmed that her company kept ordinary shipping receipts and that preservation services did not confer ownership of the materials being treated.
Caroline’s lawyer obtained a consent order requiring Richard’s company to preserve documents connected to the Saint Alden dispute.
The order was narrow and did not establish that Richard had committed fraud.
It meant he could not simply throw away relevant records while the parties sought lawful discovery.
Daniel considered the distinction important.
The truth would need to survive scrutiny by people who had never met Jessica or heard Richard speak in Daniel’s bedroom.
Richard reacted by sending Daniel a letter through a prestigious law firm.
The letter accused Daniel of spreading defamatory allegations about a corporate executive, demanded that he stop contacting Hale Meridian employees, and warned that further interference could affect commercial relationships.
Daniel read it twice, trying to decide whether to laugh or be sick.
He had made no public accusation.
He had spoken with an attorney, a former investigator, and his own family.
Mara answered on his behalf, listing the narrow requests they had made and asking counsel to identify any genuinely false statement Daniel was alleged to have published.
She did not threaten an enormous lawsuit or promise to bankrupt Richard.
She wrote that her client wished to preserve evidence, protect his privacy, and obtain accurate information about the missing photographs.
The reply gave Daniel less emotional satisfaction than a furious response would have, but it was useful.
Two days later Richard’s lawyers confirmed receipt and agreed that all relevant materials would remain preserved.
Jessica received a different letter.
