Chapter 15 - The Man Who Said Nothing
Walter lay in a hospital bed with a bandage at his temple and bruises blooming along one arm. A doctor explained that he was stable but needed observation. He had apparently fallen on the stairs at home.
I stood in the doorway, uncertain whether I had the right to be there.
Walter opened his eyes. “Claire,” he whispered. “I'm sorry.”
I crossed to the bed. “What happened?”
“Evelyn says I fell.”
“Did you?”
He turned his face toward the window. “I don't remember enough to say.”
I didn't press him. A nurse arrived and asked me to step out while she checked him.
When I returned, Walter was holding a folded piece of paper. He pushed it toward me.
It was a list of account numbers, dates, and short notes in his shaky handwriting.
“I gave Grant the first loan,” he said. “He told me it was for a marina. By the time I discovered the false invoices, Evelyn had already guaranteed the second loan with our retirement accounts. We were drowning.”
“Then you decided to drown me too?”
Tears slid into his silver hair. “I did nothing. I watched him hit you and did nothing. I told myself I was keeping the peace.”
“The peace was just silence,” I said.
He shut his eyes. “I know.”
I took the paper but told him to give a statement to investigators and keep copies of everything. I didn't tell him I forgave him. I couldn't.
Before I left, he called my name.
“Grant's not finished. He thinks he can make the board vote against you.”
“Our bylaws don't allow him to vote.”
“He doesn't need to. Evelyn convinced two of your outside directors that you've been hiding debts.”
Walter asked whether I thought he deserved forgiveness. I told him I wasn't ready to answer. He said he understood, and this time he did not ask me to make him feel better.
I felt cold all over.
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A board meeting had already been scheduled for the next morning.
The notice said it was to discuss my immediate removal.
