Chapter 6 - The Woman in Silver
The meeting took place that afternoon in a conference room above a law office rather than at the Meridian.
Lena chose the location because every visitor had to sign in and every conference room was recorded with consent.
Nora wore a simple black dress borrowed from the club's wardrobe department and tied her hair into a low ponytail.
Adrian came only as far as the lobby.
"You do not have to sit in there alone," he told her.
"I have Lena."
"That is not what I meant."
Nora understood.
For the first time since the nightclub, she smiled faintly.
"I need to answer for myself."
Adrian nodded.
"Then do that."
He did not tell her to be careful.
He did not tell her what to say.
Nora noticed the difference.
Inside the conference room, Caleb was not waiting.
Vivian Hartwell was.
She wore a silver suit and pearl earrings, and she rose with the patient expression of someone greeting a difficult relative.
"Nora, sweetheart."
"Please do not call me that."
Vivian's smile tightened.
Two attorneys sat beside her.
Lena sat beside Nora.
The door closed.
Vivian folded her hands.
"This situation has become unnecessarily public."
Nora almost laughed.
"Your company released my name."
"A reporter obtained information."
"And you went on television."
"To defend you."
"You called me unstable without using the word."
One attorney shifted in his chair.
Lena remained perfectly still.
Vivian sighed.
"You are upset, which is understandable."
Nora heard Caleb's voice inside the sentence.
Confused.
Emotional.
Difficult.
She leaned forward.
"Show me the digital proof."
The attorney opened a laptop.
A certificate appeared on the screen showing that Nora's electronic signature had approved a transfer eight weeks earlier.
The authentication record listed her personal email and a device ID.
Nora stared at it.
The device name was NORA-MACBOOK.
She recognized it.
"That is my old laptop."
Vivian nodded gently.
"Exactly."
Nora looked closer.
Something bothered her.
"I stopped using that laptop in January."
The attorney replied immediately.
"That does not mean nobody else could have used it with your permission."
Nora looked at Vivian.
"Where is it now?"
Vivian hesitated.
Only for a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
"Where is my laptop?" Nora repeated.
"Caleb had it repaired for you," Vivian said.
Nora remembered.
The screen had failed after New Year's.
Caleb had offered to take it to a technician.
A week later, he gave her a brand-new computer and said the old one was not worth fixing.
She had never seen it again.
Lena leaned forward.
"Are you saying Hartwell Events currently possesses Ms. Bennett's old personal computer?"
Nobody answered.
Then the conference room door opened.
A receptionist stepped inside.
"Ms. Ortiz, there is a woman downstairs insisting she needs to speak with Ms. Bennett immediately."
Lena frowned.
"Name?"
The receptionist checked the note in her hand.
"Paige Mercer."
Nora stood so quickly her chair moved backward.
May you like
Paige was alive.
And she had come to the one meeting Caleb's family clearly did not want interrupted.
