Chapter 6: What Rachel Knew
Grace called a contact at the financial crimes unit at 11:15 a.m.
She didn't tell me his name.
She stepped into the hallway and spoke for six minutes while Michael and I sat across from each other at her conference table.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"Are you?"
He shook his head once.
"I thought it was just about Chloe.
I thought it was just about you and Dad and the affair.
I didn't know it went this deep."
"You couldn't have."
"I should have pushed harder when I found Robert's name in those records."
"Michael." I waited until he looked at me.
"You did everything right.
You did more than right."
He looked at the table.
Grace came back in and sat down.
"Rachel Marsh," she said.
"Formerly of Calloway-Brennan Property Group.
She was let go fourteen months ago.
Officially for performance reasons.
She filed a wrongful termination complaint that was settled out of court." Grace set her notepad on the table.
"She kept copies of everything before they locked her out of the system."
"She's been waiting," Michael said.
"She's been building," Grace said.
"There's a difference.
She contacted a journalist eight months ago.
The journalist got cold feet.
She contacted a regulatory body six months ago.
The complaint was buried.
She has been looking for someone with standing to bring a civil case."
"Me," I said.
"Your divorce settlement included a clause that entitled you to a percentage of David's business assets as they stood at the time of signing.
If those assets were artificially deflated because Robert was moving money out before the settlement was calculated—" Grace paused.
"You were underpaid, Sandra.
Potentially by a significant amount."
The number she wrote on her notepad made Michael sit back in his chair.
"That's what Rachel wants you to know," Grace said.
"And that's why Robert needs to run before you find out."
I thought about the dinner parties.
Robert at our table, passing the bread, laughing at David's jokes.
I thought about the Christmas he gave Michael a telescope because Michael had mentioned once, casually, that he liked stars.
I thought about the way he had hugged me at the divorce proceedings and said, *These things happen, Sandra.
You'll be fine.*
"He was in the room when we signed the settlement," I said.
"Yes," Grace said.
"He knew exactly what I was signing."
"Yes."
I stood up.
I walked to the window.
The city moved below in its ordinary way, people and cars and pigeons, none of it aware of what was happening in this room.
"What do we do?" I said.
"Rachel sends her documents to my office today," Grace said.
"My forensics contact reviews the Meridian account transfers.
We file for an emergency injunction to freeze Robert's assets before he moves anything further." She paused.
"And we call David."
I turned around.
"David needs to know," Grace said.
"If he was unaware of what Robert was doing, he becomes a witness, not a defendant.
If he was aware—" She left it there.
"He'll warn Robert," Michael said.
"Not if we reach him first," Grace said.
"And not if we frame it correctly."
My phone buzzed.
Rachel again.
*Robert booked a flight.
Tomorrow morning.
May you like
Cape Town.*
Grace was already dialing.
