There was another three hundred and fifty thousand dollars somewhere.
“Naomi,” I said.
She had been listening through the speaker.
“I’m already looking.”
Keys clicked rapidly.
“Give me the original loan reference.”
Claire read it aloud.
Another minute passed.
Then Naomi spoke.
“I found the disbursement history.”
“And?”
“The loan was issued in two
tranches.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred thousand went to Daniel’s company.”
Daniel nodded.
“And the second?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Three hundred and fifty thousand went to a company called Alden Residential Holdings.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Peter.”
“Yes.”
Daniel sat down slowly.
“I didn’t know.”
For the first time in years, I believed those words immediately.
I had spent too much time assuming Daniel’s reluctance to talk to me meant he had something to hide.
Now I saw another possibility.
Sometimes silence did not mean guilt.
Sometimes it meant a person had
