Chapter 11 - What Natalie Knew.
David did not answer Natalie immediately.
People moved around them on the courthouse steps, but the noise seemed far away.
"What was inside it?" he asked.
Natalie glanced at Grant again.
"Not here."
"You said that last night."
"Last night I still thought Hale would protect me."
"And today?"
"Today I know he won't."
David studied her face.
He had spent fourteen months believing he knew every expression she had.
Now he realized he had known only the ones she chose to show him.
"Rachel's office in twenty minutes," he said.
"Come alone."
Natalie nodded once.
Grant called her name from the elevators.
She did not look back.
Twenty-three minutes later, Natalie sat across from David and Rachel in a conference room two floors above Hale's nearly empty office.
Rachel placed her phone on the table and turned on a recording application.
"You understand this conversation is being recorded?"
Natalie looked at David.
"Fine."
"Start with the rabbit," David said.
Natalie folded her hands.
"Hale told me Emily hid a storage device in one of Lucy's toys."
"When?"
"Yesterday morning."
David remembered Evelyn's question.
Why had Natalie waited so long to take the rabbit?
Now he had an answer.
"What did he tell you was on it?"
"He said it contained private family material that could destroy the company if it became public."
Rachel leaned forward.
"What kind of material?"
"He wouldn't say."
"Then why help him?"
Natalie laughed without humor.
"Because by yesterday morning I was already trapped."
David felt anger flare.
"You were trapped, so you dragged a two-year-old through my house?"
Natalie looked down.
"I was supposed to get the rabbit without frightening her."
"You failed."
"I know."
"You raised your hand at her."
Natalie's face tightened.
"I know."
"Don't say it like that makes it smaller."
"I'm not."
Rachel interrupted before David could continue.
"Who took the rabbit from the study?"
Natalie shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Who cut it open?"
"I don't know."
"Who put it in David's car?"
"I don't know."
Rachel stared at her.
"You understand how useless that sounds."
"I understand how convenient you think it sounds."
David leaned back.
"What were you supposed to do after you got it?"
"Take it to Hale."
"Where?"
"A private dining room at the Carlton Hotel after the charity dinner."
Rachel wrote down the location.
"Did you go?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Natalie looked at David.
"Because he caught me before I could get the rabbit."
David remembered the yellow gown, Lucy's crying, and Natalie's hand rising.
"You keep talking about that hallway like it was a failed business meeting."
"I am trying to tell you what happened."
"Then tell me why Lucy was packed for an overnight stay."
Natalie's eyes moved to the table.
"Hale said Lucy had to be out of the main residence before midnight."
"Because of the trust."
"That's what I was told."
"And you agreed?"
"He said it was a technical requirement that would last one night."
"You believed that?"
"I believed what I needed to believe."
David's voice became quiet.
"That's not an excuse."
"I know."
Rachel tapped her pen.
"Why did you need to be involved at all?"
Natalie hesitated.
"Because Grant needed David to announce the wedding date."
"And Hale?"
"Hale needed access to Emily's evidence."
"Why were those two goals connected?"
"I don't know if they were."
David frowned.
"You were recruited eight months before we met."
Natalie looked genuinely surprised.
"How do you know that?"
"Emily had cameras."
All remaining color drained from Natalie's face.
"You found the basement system."
David said nothing.
Natalie looked toward the closed conference-room door.
"Then we should not be in this building."
Rachel's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"Because Hale owns the network."
"He doesn't own the firm."
"I don't mean legally."
Natalie stood.
"He can see who enters, what rooms are booked, and which files are opened."
Rachel picked up her phone.
"We are leaving."
David remained seated.
"Not until she tells me why she was in Emily's office."
Natalie looked at him.
"I wasn't recruited to marry you."
David stared at her.
"Then what were you recruited to do?"
"Find out what Emily knew."
Rachel stopped moving.
Natalie continued.
"Hale introduced me to Grant because my family connection gave me a reason to approach Emily without raising questions."
"You were spying on my wife."
"At first."
"At first?"
"I met Emily twice, and she figured me out during the second meeting."
David's chest tightened.
"What did she do?"
Natalie smiled faintly, but there was sadness in it.
"She offered me coffee."
David could see Emily doing exactly that.
"Then what?"
"She told me I was being used by men who would sacrifice me the moment I stopped being useful."
Rachel asked, "Did you believe her?"
"No."
Natalie looked down at her hands.
"Not then."
David's anger changed shape.
"How did we meet eight months later?"
"Grant arranged the museum fundraiser."
"So every part of our relationship was planned."
Natalie looked at him for a long moment.
"The meeting was planned."
"That is not what I asked."
She did not answer.
David stood.
"We're done."
Natalie grabbed his sleeve.
He pulled away immediately.
"There is one more thing."
"What?"
"Yesterday, before Hale told me about the rabbit, he showed me a photograph of the capsule."
Rachel turned back.
"You can identify it?"
"Yes."
"Did you see what was inside?"
"No."
"Then what matters about the photograph?"
Natalie reached into her purse and placed a folded receipt on the table.
On the back she had drawn a rough outline of a small cylinder with a blue ring.
Beside it she had written six characters.
4E-19-A7.
David looked at her.
"What is that?"
"A number printed on the side of the capsule."
Rachel photographed it.
Natalie's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen and froze.
David saw only one line before she turned it facedown.
You talked.
Natalie whispered, "We need to leave now."
May you like
Then every light in Hale's office suite went dark.
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