The estate’s caretaker, Mrs. Delaney, had saved photographs of the rooms before Nolan moved Brielle in. She also kept an inventory of artwork, furniture, and jewelry. Nolan had dismissed her after she refused to hand over the safe’s access codes. She was now cooperating with investigators.
“She said she always suspected he was trouble,” Daniel reported.
“Did she tell me?”
“She said she tried.”
I remembered Mrs. Delaney asking whether I was comfortable with Nolan signing certain approvals. I had laughed and said we were partners. Trust can be a generous act; it can also be an excuse not to look closely enough.
That night I wrote a letter to Mrs. Delaney. I thanked her for keeping records and apologized for dismissing her concern. It was the first letter I had written that was not about the case. I slept better afterward.
- The Board Meeting
Nolan’s important board meeting went ahead without him. Federal agents had requested records from the Mercer Group, and the directors were finally asking questions I had been unable to ask from detention. An emergency committee reviewed the proposed $1.5 billion transfer and suspended it before the funds moved.
