Chapter 6 - THE FIRST CALL
At 12:26 a.m., Ethan’s general counsel, Grace Bennett, called.
“Ethan, Vertex says Claire sent Adrian an archive labeled ATLAS.”
“I know.”
“Do not touch anything else.”
“It’s my system.”
“Not tonight.”
“There’s a client staging file inside.”
Silence.
Grace’s voice changed.
“What kind?”
“Commercial loan records.”
“Production?”
“Sample.”
“Real?”
Ethan looked at Claire.
“Partly.”
Grace exhaled.
“Call security. Preserve the laptop. Preserve Claire’s device. Do not delete anything.”
Claire snapped:
“You’re taking my phone?”
Grace heard her.
“Claire, you need separate counsel.”
Claire went pale.
Ethan said:
“She sent it.”
Grace answered:
“And you may have packaged regulated or contract-protected information improperly.”
Claire looked at him.
For the first time, Ethan’s authority disappeared.
He was not simply the victim.
He was part of the incident.
Claire’s separate lawyer, Rachel Moore, arrived at 2:10 a.m.
She told Claire not to delete messages.
Claire said:
“I already deleted some.”
Rachel looked at her.
“When?”
“Earlier this week.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want Ethan to see I contacted Adrian.”
Rachel wrote that down.
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“Is that bad?”
“It can be evidence of concealment.”
“I wasn’t hiding a crime.”
“You were hiding conduct you knew your husband would object to.”
Claire sat down.
For the first time, the fight had left the emotional language of marriage and entered evidence.
Delete.
Preserve.
Timestamp.
May you like
Intent.
Words did not disappear simply because the person who typed them had been angry.
