CHAP 5 — What Thomas Knew
Thomas looked worse in daylight.
Anger had drained from his face, leaving something meaner beneath it. His shirt was wrinkled. One cheek was bruised from the fall. His wrists were cuffed in front of him now, but two guards stood close enough to remind him why.
When Nola entered the south office, Thomas smiled.
“There she is.”
Callum stepped slightly in front of her.
Thomas laughed.
“What, she needs permission to speak now?”
Nola surprised them all.
“No.”
Her voice shook, but it held.
Thomas’s smile thinned.
“You always were good at finding men to stand in front of you.”
Callum’s expression did not change.
Nola’s hand tightened at her side.
“You lied about the debt.”
Thomas shrugged.
“I simplified it.”
“You told me I owed eighty thousand dollars.”
“You owed me obedience.”
The room chilled.
Evelyn, standing near the bookshelf, looked down at her notes as if making sure the recording device had captured that cleanly.
Thomas noticed too late.
His eyes flicked toward the desk.
Callum saw it.
There was fear now.
Not much.
Enough.
Evelyn spoke first.
“Mr. Vale, Harbor Recovery denies authorizing you to collect personal labor from Mrs. Ferris.”
Thomas scoffed.
“She’s my wife.”
“Marriage is not collateral.”
“It is when she signs.”
Nola’s voice came quietly.
“You hit me until I signed.”
For the first time, Thomas looked less certain.
“Careful.”
Callum moved before Nola could flinch.
Not toward Thomas.
Toward the desk.
He placed both hands on the polished wood and leaned forward.
“No,” he said. “You be careful.”
Thomas swallowed.
Then he changed tactics.
“You don’t know what she did to Jonah.”
Nola’s face went white.
Callum looked at her, then back to Thomas.
“What did she do?”
Thomas grinned.
“She got him killed.”
Nola’s breath broke.
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? Jonah was going to leave town with you. Then he ended up dead behind a warehouse. Funny timing.”
Callum’s eyes sharpened.
Jonah’s death had been called an accident. Nola had mentioned it with the numbness of someone who had never been allowed to grieve properly.
Evelyn asked, “How do you know where Jonah died?”
Thomas’s grin vanished.
Silence.
Then Callum’s phone vibrated.
A message from his security chief.
JONAH REED CASE LINKED TO HARBOR RECOVERY COLLECTION CREW. THOMAS VALE LISTED AS INFORMANT.
Callum read it once.
Then looked at Thomas.
Nola saw the change in his face.
“What?” she whispered.
Callum did not answer immediately.
He handed the phone to Evelyn.
She read it and went still.
Thomas lunged from the chair.
“I want a lawyer.”
Evelyn smiled without warmth.
“That may be the first sensible thing you’ve said.”
Nola looked between them.
“Callum.”
He turned to her.
“You don’t have to hear this here.”
“Yes, I do.”
He hesitated.
Then told her.
“Jonah may have been targeted because he challenged Harbor Recovery over your debt.”
Nola’s hand went to the back of the chair.
“No.”
“We don’t know everything yet.”
Thomas laughed sharply.
“Look at him protecting you from the truth. Rich men do it prettier, that’s all.”
Callum ignored him.
Nola did not.
She stepped around Callum.
Everyone tensed.
She stopped far enough away that Thomas could not touch her.
“Did you know?” she asked.
Thomas leaned back.
“Know what?”
“Did you know Jonah was going to meet them?”
His silence answered.
Nola’s face folded inward.
But she did not collapse.
Thomas watched, waiting for her to break.
She didn’t.
Instead, she looked at Evelyn.
“I want to make a statement.”
Thomas’s eyes widened.
“Nola.”
She did not look at him again.
“I want everything recorded. The debt. The bruises. Jonah. The agency. All of it.”
Callum felt something painful and proud move through his chest.
The girl from Hester Street had always climbed too high.
May you like
But this time, she was not climbing away.
She was climbing out.
