Chapter 9 - Adrian’s Green Notebook
Eleanor was not permitted to open the envelope privately.
It was evidence now.
She agreed.
Still, when Detective Ortiz cut the seal in an interview room, Eleanor had to look away.
Inside were six handwritten pages.
Adrian’s writing.
Slanted.
Impatient.
Familiar enough to hurt.
Eleanor read silently.
Then again.
The first page concerned Grant.
Adrian described unauthorized payments, consulting shells, and altered approval logs.
The second concerned Camille.
Not an accusation of theft.
Something more complicated.
Camille had signed several documents Grant presented to her.
Adrian believed she knew the transactions were misleading.
He did not know whether she understood the full scheme.
The third page was about Oliver.
Eleanor stopped.
“What?”
Lena asked quietly.
Eleanor handed her the page.
Adrian had written:
Camille keeps telling Oliver that love means loyalty. He is seven. He has started apologizing for things he didn’t do because it ends arguments faster. I need to address this before it becomes normal to him.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Another line followed:
I keep waiting for a better moment because fighting with Camille exhausts everyone. That is cowardice dressed as patience.
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Adrian had seen it too.
And he had delayed.
Just like she had.
The final page concerned the vault.
If Adrian’s suspicions proved unfounded, he intended to destroy everything.
If not, Eleanor was instructed to protect Oliver’s trust and provide the records to independent counsel.
There was no prophecy.
No accusation that he expected to die.
Only a man trying to document a financial dispute without knowing he had four days left to live.
That ordinariness made it worse.
“What’s on the second device?” Eleanor asked.
“Unknown.”
Forensic technicians would determine that.
Lena flipped through the notebook.
One entry caught her attention.
G says C is useful because she wants what he wants: liquidity without oversight. C thinks this is about independence. G thinks this is about access.
Eleanor stared at the initials.
“Grant used her.”
“Possibly.”
“She also used him.”
“Possibly.”
“Why are you defending her?”
“I’m not.”
Lena closed the notebook.
“I’m separating evidence from emotion.”
Eleanor stood and walked to the window.
“I don’t know whether I want Camille to be a monster or not.”
Lena understood.
“Because monsters are simpler?”
“Yes.”
“She may have loved Oliver.”
Eleanor turned.
“And put evidence inside his cast.”
“Both can be true.”
Eleanor looked tired.
“I’m beginning to hate that sentence.”
At the rental house, Oliver was learning how to use crutches.
He hated them.
His first attempt ended with one crutch sliding sideways and Oliver shouting a word Eleanor pretended not to hear.
By the fourth try, he made it across the living room.
Eleanor applauded.
“Don’t.”
“Sorry.”
“You’re embarrassing.”
“I’m a grandmother. It’s contractual.”
He rolled his eyes.
It was the most normal thing Eleanor had seen him do.
Then the doorbell rang.
Oliver froze.
Eleanor saw every muscle in his body tighten.
“Stay here.”
“Is it her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t let her in.”
“I won’t.”
The visitor was not Camille.
It was Raymond Price.
Camille’s attorney stood on the porch holding an envelope.
“I’m not here to discuss the case.”
“Then leave.”
“Camille asked me to deliver something to Oliver.”
“No.”
“It has been reviewed by the guardian ad litem.”
That stopped Eleanor.
A court-appointed lawyer now represented Oliver’s interests.
The letter had apparently been approved.
Eleanor accepted it but did not promise to show Oliver.
“What does she want?”
“To tell her son she loves him.”
Eleanor looked at Raymond.
“Did she love him when he told her his toes were numb?”
Raymond did not answer.
“That was unfair,” Eleanor said bitterly.
“No.”
His response surprised her.
“It was relevant.”
He turned to leave.
Then paused.
“She is beginning to understand the medical evidence.”
“Beginning?”
“She built her life around the belief that if she could explain a decision, she could excuse it.”
Eleanor’s voice was cold.
“And now?”
“Now she is running out of explanations.”
After he left, Eleanor brought the envelope to Oliver.
She did not open it.
“This is from your mother.”
Oliver stared at it.
“Do I have to read it?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to?”
“No.”
“What if I never do?”
“That is your choice.”
He picked it up.
Turned it over.
Then placed it unopened inside his bedside drawer.
“Maybe later.”
Eleanor nodded.
That evening, the forensic team accessed Adrian’s second storage device.
Most files duplicated the green notebook.
One did not.
A video.
Dated March fourteenth.
Exactly matching the filename listed on AVA’s stolen drive.
The camera angle showed Adrian’s private office.
Adrian sat behind the desk.
Camille stood near the window.
Grant sat to her left.
The recording began halfway through an argument.
Grant said, “The money can be replaced before anyone notices.”
Adrian answered, “You already moved it.”
Camille said, “We borrowed from ourselves.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No, Camille. You took money from a charitable foundation and pushed it through companies Grant controls.”
“That foundation exists because of our family.”
“It does not exist to fund your lifestyle.”
Camille’s face changed.
Grant intervened.
“Adrian, lower your voice.”
Then Adrian said the sentence that made Lena pause the video.
“I know about the signatures.”
Grant went completely still.
Camille whispered, “What signatures?”
Adrian looked at her.
And in that moment, Lena realized something critical.
May you like
Camille might have known about the money.
But she had not known everything Grant was doing.
