Chapter 4 - Nora had been trying to call me
Nora showed me her phone.
Seven missed outgoing calls to me between 7:54 and 8:13.
My phone had been in the inside pocket of my tuxedo jacket.
Silenced during speeches.
“You could have texted.”
“I did.”
There were twelve messages.
The first:
Call me before you drink anything Vanessa gives you.
Then:
I am serious.
Then:
Colin saw something.
Then:
GRAHAM ANSWER YOUR PHONE.
I looked at her.
“Why didn’t Colin come directly to me?”
“He’s twenty-three and Vanessa hired the event company.”
“He works for Vanessa?”
“Her company is managing tonight.”
That was true.
Vanessa owned Vale & Co. Events.
The foundation had hired it for the gala.
A conflict I had disclosed to the board and handled through competitive review.
Or so I believed.
Nora continued.
“Colin told his supervisor. The supervisor told him not to create a scene.”
“Who is his supervisor?”
“Marissa Kent.”
Vanessa’s operations manager.
My stomach tightened.
“Where is Colin now?”
“Peter has him.”
Good.
“What exactly did he see?”
Nora held up her hand.
“I didn’t interrogate him.”
That was also good.
“He said he saw Vanessa holding your glass and putting something into it. That’s all.”
“Why did you believe him so fast?”
Nora stared.
“Because yesterday I found a purchase.”
“What purchase?”
She closed her eyes.
There it was.
The part she had not told me.
“Foundation expense reimbursement.”
“For?”
“A case of concentrated botanical treatment solution.”
I frowned.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would the foundation buy it?”
“It didn’t.”
“Then?”
“Vale & Co. submitted the receipt inside a general event-supplies reimbursement.”
I felt anger rising.
“How much?”
“Eighty-six dollars.”
I almost laughed.
Not because funny.
Because eighty-six dollars sounded too small to belong inside the terror of the previous night.
Nora said:
“I thought it was probably a miscategorized decorative product.”
“Then why—”
“Because the vendor name is a specialty animal-care supplier.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“I flagged it. Vanessa’s office sent a corrected invoice and said it had been charged accidentally.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was going to after the gala.”
I stared.
She stared back.
Then said:
May you like
“Yes. That was a mistake.”
At least she knew.
