Chapter 5: What Tessa Found in the Blue Cardigan Hour
I stepped away from Walter and Margaret, moving toward the far end of the corridor near the vending machines.
The fluorescent light above one of them was flickering at irregular intervals.
I pressed Tessa's name.
She answered before the second ring.
"Is he going to be okay?" she asked first.
"Yes.
It wasn't what they thought.
I'll explain later." I kept my voice low.
"What did you find?"
A pause.
I heard Tessa shift.
Heard the particular quiet of my living room at four in the morning.
"After Laya went back to sleep, I went to make tea.
I knocked Adrian's jacket off the hook by the door.
The one he didn't take with him tonight — his gray wool one." Another pause.
"An envelope fell out of the inside pocket."
"What kind of envelope?"
"Unsealed.
There was a document inside.
Elena, I didn't go looking.
It literally fell on the floor."
"What was in it?"
"It looks like a transfer agreement.
A property transfer.
Cain Development letterhead." Her voice was careful now.
Precise in the way she got when she was worried about saying something wrong.
"The property is a condominium unit in River North.
The transfer is dated eight weeks ago.
The recipient is listed as Sienna Blake."
The vending machine light flickered twice and held.
"He transferred a property to her," I said.
"A unit worth — Elena, there's a valuation on the second page.
One point two million dollars."
I pressed my back against the wall.
"That's not all," Tessa said.
"There's a signature line at the bottom for the transferring party.
It says Adrian Cain.
But the signature — I've seen Adrian's signature on things around the apartment.
Christmas cards, school forms for Laya.
This isn't it."
The corridor felt very still.
"You're saying someone signed his name."
"I'm saying the signature doesn't match what I've seen.
I could be wrong.
I'm not a handwriting expert."
"Don't put it back," I said.
"Don't touch it again.
Set it on the kitchen table exactly as it is."
"Already done."
"Is Laya asleep?"
"Yes.
Out completely."
"I'll be home as soon as I can." I looked back down the corridor.
Walter was standing beside the chair.
Margaret had moved away from him and was now near the treatment-room doors, her back to both of us.
"Tessa.
The property in River North.
Was there an address?"
I heard paper move carefully.
She read me a street and unit number.
I knew that building.
Modern tower, glass and steel, concierge service, underground parking.
I had attended a fundraising dinner there two years ago for a cardiology foundation.
The units on the upper floors started at nine hundred thousand.
"Thank you," I said.
"I'll explain everything when I'm home."
I ended the call and stood very still for a moment.
One point two million dollars.
Transferred eight weeks ago.
Signed with a signature that wasn't Adrian's.
I thought about Sienna Blake in my pajamas.
Sienna Blake telling me she was just his assistant.
Sienna Blake looking at Margaret when she couldn't answer a question.
I thought about Margaret's hand going still on her handbag strap when I said the word apartment.
I walked back down the corridor.
Walter was the first one to look at me.
Something in my face must have changed, because he straightened slightly.
"Is everything all right?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"But it will be."
I looked at the treatment-room doors.
"I need to speak with Dr.
Harris about the medication documentation.
And then I need to make one more call before morning." I looked at Margaret's back.
"Margaret, I need you to stay.
I have questions that can't wait."
She turned around slowly.
Her face had settled into something composed and distant, the expression she wore at family dinners when a conversation displeased her.
"I've told you everything I know," she said.
"You haven't told me anything," I said.
"But I think you're about to."
I pulled a chair from the row against the wall and set it directly across from where she was standing.
Then I sat down.
And waited.
Margaret looked at the chair, then at me, then at Walter.
Walter gestured toward the seat beside it.
May you like
"Sit down, Margaret," he said quietly.
She sat.
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