Chương 4
“Nothing.”
“That’s not nothing.”
“Ms. Mercer, I’m not going to evaluate your case in the middle of your statement.”
Priya had wanted to argue with him.
Anna had kicked her lightly beneath the hospital chair.
Now morning light came through the blinds in gray bars.
Priya sat on the edge of the windowsill.
“Alexander Hale is downstairs.”
Anna groaned.
“He’s been downstairs for an hour.”
“Why?”
“He asked if he could see you.”
“What did you say?”
“That you were asleep.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
Priya peeled a paper strip from a coffee cup.
“He looks bad.”
“I hope his tailoring recovers.”
“Anna.”
“What?”
“I’m not defending him.”
“Good.”
“He did stop her.”
“After she hit me.”
“He didn’t know.”
“I know.”
Priya went quiet.
Anna hated that too.
Reasonable facts were harder to hate than people.
She stared at the blanket over her knees.
“Did he bring lawyers?”
“One.”
“Of course.”
“The lawyer is a woman who looks like she eats men like him for breakfast.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down.”
Priya smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“What are you going to do?”
Anna turned toward the window.
Across the avenue, a man in blue scrubs was standing outside a deli drinking orange juice from the bottle. A bus sighed at the curb. Someone honked twice for no useful reason.
Normal life looked obscene.
“I’m going home.”
“I mean about them.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Do you want the money?”
Anna looked at her.
“What money?”
“If the letter is real.”
“I don’t know.”
“You never thought about it?”
“Of course I thought about it.”
“How much?”
“Priya.”
“I’m asking because everyone else is going to pretend it’s vulgar while thinking about nothing else.”
That sounded so much like Priya that Anna felt unexpectedly close to tears.
She rubbed her nose.
“I thought maybe I could pay off Mom’s house.”
“The house is sold.”
“I know.”
“Your loans?”
“Maybe.”
“You told me Nathan Hale’s company is worth billions.”
“I know what I told you.”
Priya watched her.
“So what did you want from him?”
Anna’s answer came too quickly.
“Nothing.”
Priya made a face.
“Okay. That was a lie.”
“I wanted…”
She stopped.
The thing sounded childish when she tried to shape it into words.
Her mother had refused to name Anna’s father.
Not angrily.
Worse.
Quietly.
When Anna asked at eight, Margaret said, “He isn’t part of our life.”
At thirteen: “Some answers don’t improve anything.”
At nineteen, after two glasses of wine at Thanksgiving: “I made choices before you were born that I’m not proud of.”
At twenty-four, during an argument about Anna’s student loans, Margaret shouted, “At least I stayed.”
Anna had gone into the bathroom and cried from rage because the sentence confirmed more than her mother intended.
Nathan Hale had known.
He had left.
“I wanted to know why,” Anna said.
Priya nodded.
“That’s something.”
“It’s stupid.”
“It’s not.”
“It won’t change anything.”
“No.”
Anna looked at the bandage visible beneath the hospital gown.
“Victoria thought I wanted their money.”
“Maybe Victoria wants their money.”
“That’s not exactly a shocking motive in that family.”
“You’ve worked for them eight months. You know them better than the internet does.”
“I carry plates past them.”
“You hear things.”
“That mostly proves rich people complain about room temperature exactly like everyone else.”
Priya laughed.
This time Anna did too.
It hurt her back.
She stopped.
A nurse came in to check her blood pressure and told Priya to move off the windowsill.
Priya moved to the chair with exaggerated obedience.
The nurse asked Anna whether she felt safe going home.
Anna almost answered yes.
Then she thought about 463 messages.
Her address.
The photographs online.
The original letter inside a metal cashbox beneath her bed.
“No,” she said.
The nurse paused.
“Do you have somewhere else you can stay?”
Priya said, “My apartment is her apartment.”
The nurse looked between them.
Anna felt embarrassed.
Then angry at herself for being embarrassed.
“I can get a hotel.”
Priya snorted.
“With what money?”
“I have a credit card.”
“With what available credit?”
“Can we not do this in front of—”
The nurse lifted both hands.
“I have heard worse financial planning today.”
After she left, Priya leaned closer.
“Ask Billionaire Brother.”
“Half brother.”
“Possibly.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I am not leaving a hospital after his wife assaulted me and moving into a room he paid for.”
“That is almost exactly when I would start accepting free rooms.”
Anna threw a tissue at her.
At nine-fifteen, Alexander’s attorney asked to see her.
Anna said no.
At nine-thirty, the attorney sent up a handwritten note.
No request. No legal language.
Just a name and number.
Elena Ward.
I represent Alexander, not you. You should have your own counsel before speaking with anyone in the Hale family, including Alexander. If you need referrals, I can give your attorney names. I will not ask what you intend to do.
Anna read it twice.
Then called.
Elena answered on the first ring.
“Ms. Mercer?”
“You really represent him?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re telling me not to talk to him.”
“I’m telling you that he has resources, legal advice, and emotional reasons to want information from you. You currently have none of those advantages.”
“That’s a strange sales pitch.”
“I’m not selling you anything.”
“Is he there?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Can he hear you?”
“No.”
“Is he angry?”
Another pause.
“Very.”
“At me?”
“No.”
Anna looked at Priya.
Priya mouthed, Hot?
Anna ignored her.
“Why is he still here?”
Elena said, “You would need to ask him.”
“I don’t want to see him.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Wait.”
Elena waited.
Anna hated herself.
“What did Victoria say?”
“I can’t discuss privileged communications or speculate about her legal position.”
“You don’t represent her.”
“No.”
Something in Elena’s tone made Anna sit straighter.
“You don’t?”
“I represent Alexander personally.”
“What about the family?”
“They have separate counsel.”
“And Victoria?”
May you like
“She has retained criminal defense counsel.”
The words made the previous night suddenly more concrete.
