It was not a warrant, and she made that distinction immediately.

Nora had no authority to search him or take his bag.

She only wanted him to know which records were already in the hands of counsel.

Allison came down behind Preston.

Rachel looked at her for a long moment.

Neither woman spoke.

I had expected shouting when those two finally stood face to face.

Instead I heard the refrigerator motor switch on.

Rachel asked Allison whether she had ever seen a check made payable to Mercer Drywall.

Allison said she had never heard of the company.

I knew then that the money problem and the affair were connected somehow, but I did not yet know whether Allison had participated or had been used.

Preston said we were all making a mistake.

He told Rachel they could handle their marriage privately.

Rachel replied that their marriage had ceased to be the only issue when fourteen subcontractors missed payments and one employee lost his health insurance.

Nora took a folder from her own bag.

She placed it on the table but did not open it.

Then she asked me for the date when our accounting system first showed the unexplained reversals.

I remembered the date exactly because it was the morning my father went into surgery.

Chapter 5: A Call from the Hospital

The first time I spoke with Rachel, she asked whether I could remember where I had been on the morning of March fourteenth.

I remembered the hospital.

My father had undergone a procedure, and I had slept in a chair near the window while nurses came and went.

She said Preston had told her he was attending an investment conference that day.

The conference had ended the night before.

She had found a receipt showing he had rented a car and driven toward Columbus.

That alone was not proof of misconduct.

It was another discrepancy in a marriage filled with them.

I asked what she wanted from me.

She said she wanted to establish a timeline that no one could bend later.

We agreed to make copies of legitimate records and keep originals with their rightful custodians.

When I returned to the rehabilitation center that weekend, I asked a nurse whether visitor logs from March could be obtained.

She directed me to the appropriate records office.

The request took time and required verification.

I appreciated the process even while I found it frustrating.

In the past, Preston had made every obstacle seem like a reason to surrender control to him.