My heartbeat thudded against the hidden button.
“Which video?”
He gave a tired, bitter smile.
“So he did.”
“Were you expecting me to see it?”
“I was expecting someone to use it.”
“Did you send the flash drive?”
“No.”
“Did Reynolds?”
“I don’t know.”
I studied his face.
He seemed exhausted, but not confused.
“You told me my father had been in an accident.”
“I was told he was dead.”
“By Reynolds?”
“Yes.”
“And you repeated it without checking.”
“I went to the hospital. There was no record under his name. Reynolds said the family had requested privacy.”
“My family consists of me and Jackson.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you believe him?”
“Because I had already seen the damaged car.”
I said nothing.
Jasper moved toward the dining table.
“I followed Reynolds yesterday. He drove to a garage near the river. Your father’s car was there.”
“How did you know where to follow him?”
“He called me after the accident.”
“To discuss your payment?”
His hand stopped above the leather folder.
“You saw the bank statements.”
“Four hundred thousand dollars.”
“I never spent it.”
“That isn’t the same as not taking it.”
“No.”
His agreement unsettled me.
He opened the folder and removed printed statements.
“The money is still in the Ashwood account. Every payment.”
“Why?”
“Because Reynolds needed to believe I was cooperating.”
“My father said you told him the same thing.”
Jasper looked up sharply.
“He told you that?”
“He also said he didn’t believe you.”
“I know.”
“Should he have?”
Jasper leaned both hands on the table.
“For part of it.”
The room contracted around those words.
“What part?”
“I agreed to persuade you to sign the transfer.”
My breath caught.
“Why?”
“Because Reynolds showed me evidence that your father had concealed losses at Westbridge. He said thousands of employees would lose their pensions if the board discovered the truth.”
“And you believed him.”
“At first.”
“So you thought betraying me was justified.”
“I thought I was preventing something worse.”
“You could have told me.”
“He said the moment I did, he would release the documents.”
“You chose him over me.”
“I chose delay. I told myself I was buying time.”
“With my shares.”
“With money I never touched and papers I made sure were incomplete.”
I remembered the yellow tabs.