Chapter 5 — A Convenient Suspect

By Monday morning, Evan’s version of events had reached Nora’s largest client.

Priya called at eight to say she had seen the wedding email and could meet at noon. At nine, the restaurant group’s communications director called Nora. She had received a message claiming Nora had mishandled confidential material at her former agency and was involved with a company affected by it.

“We’re pausing your access while we review this,” the director said.

“Who sent the message?”

“It came from an attorney representing someone connected to the old project.”

“Did it identify any document I mishandled?”

“Not to me.”

Nora wrote down the director’s exact words. “Please preserve the message and its attachments. My attorney will respond.”

After the call, she sat for a moment with both hands on her desk. The restaurant account paid her rent and most of her business expenses. Evan knew that. He’d watched her build the relationship while they were engaged.

Then Nora opened a new document and made three columns:

What I know. What I can prove. What I need.

She put Evan’s wedding toast, his email, the dated photograph from Tessa, and the recorded conversation in the first column. Only the files and messages she possessed went in the second. The third column grew quickly.

At Priya’s office, Nora explained North Pier from the beginning. Priya listened without interrupting, then asked a question Nora disliked.

“Did you ever knowingly give Evan a copy of the memo?”

“No.”

“Could you have left it open on your laptop when he used it?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ll say exactly that. We won’t make a broader claim until we see the records.”

Priya sent preservation requests to Nora’s former agency, Calder Vale, and the hotel that had hosted the wedding. She also wrote to the restaurant group requesting the allegation sent about Nora. The old agency’s records manager confirmed that its archived permission logs still existed, though releasing client material would require review.

“This is going to take time,” Priya said.

“I know. Evan isn’t taking time.”

“Then we deal with the client first. A precise response and your own records. No accusations you can’t substantiate.”

Nora went home to draft that response. By late afternoon, the restaurant group agreed to review Priya’s letter before making a permanent decision. Nora still had no access to the account.

Dante called after six.

“My company found its first internal report on the newsletter campaign,” he said. “I’d like you to see it.”

“Can it be shared with Priya?”

“Yes. My counsel will send it to her.”

There was a pause.

“What else?” Nora asked.

“We received a warning before the first newsletter went out. An email sent to a company officer said our next contract would disappear if we challenged the story.”

Nora stood up. “You knew that at the wedding?”

“I knew there had been a warning. I didn’t remember its wording until I reviewed the report today.”

“What did it say?”

“‘Make them afraid to question it.’”

She walked to the window. Below her, a delivery cyclist waited for a gap in traffic.

“You should have told me there was a message using my words.”

“I should have checked before making the connection.”

“Dante, you already had the connection in your head. I needed the chance to assess it.”

“You’re right.”

She had begun to trust his habit of admitting a mistake. She didn’t want to have to rely on it so often.

“Send it through your lawyer,” she said. “And from now on, tell me about every relevant document, even if you think it may turn out to be nothing.”

“I will.”

After they hung up, Nora searched her own retained project notes. Her contract allowed her to keep invoices, schedules, and records of her hours, though not client deliverables. She opened every folder she had lawfully retained.

At nearly midnight, she found a delivery email from the week after the October account alert. It was a routine message from Calder Vale’s lobby desk, copied to Evan and mistakenly to an old address Nora had once used for event bookings. She had archived it unread.

External media received at reception for E. Mercer. Courier signature attached.

The attachment would no longer open. The name of the PDF contained a delivery number.

Nora sent the email to Priya. In the morning, Priya requested the original attachment from Calder Vale’s records department.

The firm’s response came that afternoon. It would preserve the record, but would not voluntarily release employee correspondence during its internal review.

Evan called Nora ten minutes later.

She let it go to voicemail.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said in the recording. “I heard about your requests. If you turn this into a fight, your agency will have to explain why someone used your login to download that file. I’m trying to give you a chance to walk away.”

Nora saved the message and sent it to Priya.

It unsettled her for a reason she hadn’t expected: Evan sounded confident about the old login alert. He had been prepared to use it against her from the moment she asked questions.

Priya called back. “We’re going to request the detailed access record. The date and time matter. So does what happened before and after the download.”

That evening, Maya rang.

“The records manager let me review my own old incident notes,” she said. “I can’t send the underlying log, but I can tell you what I wrote. The download happened at 10:42 a.m. on October nineteenth.”

Nora checked Tessa’s photograph. It had arrived at 10:31.

“I was upstairs on a client call,” Nora said.

“Your calendar shows one from ten-thirty until eleven.”

“Evan knew I’d be busy. Tessa knew too.”

“Do you have the meeting invitation?”

“I do.”

Maya hesitated. “There was something else in my note. IT flagged a newly connected storage device immediately before the download.”

Nora closed her eyes. Tessa had described a drive. For the first time, a record from the project matched her account without depending on either sister’s memory.

“What can I do with that?” Nora asked.

“Have Priya request the log. She’ll know how to get it properly.”

Nora thanked her and called Priya. They now had a narrow time window, a device event, and a separate record showing Tessa was at the building.

They still didn’t know who had copied the file.

Before bed, Nora received a message from an unknown number.

Evan says you’re trying to destroy Tessa’s marriage. Your mother wants everyone at brunch on Sunday so this can be settled.

Nora knew her mother’s phrasing.

This

meant whatever threatened to become visible.

She wrote back,

Tell her I’ll come.