I've Died Here Before novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Eight Forty

Addie's POV

The Foundation office took up half the thirtieth floor of the Courtland Hotels building.

At 9:40 that night, the lights were on, and I could hear a machine grinding behind the frosted glass.

"That's a shredder," I whispered.

"It is," Holden said. "The Foundation's records were due to the board on Friday."

He had asked me in the elevator, with the detective listening, whether he should call the board chair first.

I had said yes.

The chair and three board members now stood in the corridor behind us in their overcoats, with their faces gray.

The detective pushed open the glass door.

Giselle stood at the shredder in her cream suit with her sleeves rolled up.

A cardboard box sat at her feet, full to the top with paper.

She looked up, and for one second I saw her without any expression at all.

Then the old smile came back.

"Holden, darling," she said. "You're early."

"I'm exactly on time."

"The board is here. How lovely." She switched off the shredder with her elbow. "I was just tidying."

"You were shredding the Foundation's bank records," said the chair, from the corridor.

"I was removing personal papers."

The detective stepped forward.

"Ms. Vickers, your brother signed a statement at 9:12 tonight. He says the van, the boat and the pier were done at your direction."

"My brother is a gambler and a liar."

"He also gave us a phone," I said.

I crossed the carpet, knelt at the box, and pulled out a handful of paper.

Most of it was still whole.

I read the top page aloud.

"Wire transfer. Courtland Foundation, the New Pier Fund. One million, four hundred thousand dollars. Received September twenty-first."

Behind me, someone drew a sharp breath.

"Sent on September twenty-third," I went on, "to a company in Delaware. And on September twenty-fifth, from that company to an account in the name of a man who collects bets."

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