He paused.
“I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.Henry had his hand at the small of her back, just briefly, and most people wouldn’t have given it a second look.But Linda leaned over and said, ‘Winston, men don’t touch women like that unless there’s something going on.’Linda was rarely wrong about people.”
“Do you know who she was?”I asked.
“Linda recognized her straight away.Byron Jameson’s daughter.Jameson was on the board at the time, had been since the early days.One of Henry’s oldest friends.His wife had passed when the girl was young, so she’d grown up accompanying her father to foundation events.Dinners, galas, that sort of thing.”He paused.“She couldn’t have been more than twenty-two, twenty-three.Young enough to be Henry’s daughter.That’s what had Linda so scandalized.She said it twice on the drive home.”
The air-conditioning hummed.
“Linda and I never said a word about it to anyone.It wasn’t our business.”He paused.“But after Henry died I kept coming back to it.Jameson would have been somewhere at that reception.If he’d seen what Linda saw?—”
He let it trail off.
The room had gone very quiet.
Dash leaned forward and set his forearms on his knees.“Is Byron Jameson still living?”
“I don’t know.He left the board sometime after Henry died.I don’t know where he landed.”
We didn’t stay much longer after that.Winston walked us to the door and shook both our hands.When he shook mine he held it a half second longer than necessary.
“Thank you for your time,” I said.
He nodded once, and held the door until we reached the steps.
I walked back to the car in the hot midday sun and didn’t talk, and Dash didn’t push.He started the engine and let the air blow cold and pulled away from the curb, and we were back out onto the main road before either of us said anything.
“Jameson’s daughter,” I said finally.
“We need a name.”
He glanced over.I already had my phone out.
My phone buzzed before I could dial, so I answered.It was Dottie.
“How’d it go?”I asked.
“About as well as you’d expect.”Her voice was dry.“Hank and I drove out to see Edward Fairchild.He was one of the original board members, been on since the early days.He’s been in memory care for three years.Lovely facility.Very nice staff.”A pause.“He didn’t remember Henry.Didn’t remember serving on the board.Didn’t remember what year it was.We had a pleasant enough conversation about his dog, which passed away in 1987.”
“I’m sorry, Dottie.”
“Don’t be.At least we know.”I heard Hank say something in the background and Dottie laughed.“Call me tonight.”
I dialed Bea.
“Robert Ainsley grows roses.Did you know that?Sixty-seven varieties.I know because Deidre has named every single one of them out loud since we left his driveway.Which is only one of the reasons I want to throw myself out of this car.”
“Did you learn anything other than varieties of roses?”I asked.
“I liked him.He was spunky.He joined the board in the mid-nineties.Sharp.Remembers everything.He said after Henry died things were in an upheaval.Henry was the heart of the foundation.James was more of the businessman.But he said James did a good job steering the ship in those weeks after Henry died.”
“Did he mention the embezzlement?”
“Boy, did he.”A brief commotion on her end.“For goodness’ sake, Deidre.You’re not in NASCAR.Slow down.”
Deidre said something I couldn’t make out, but I got the gist.Bickering was their favorite pastime.
“Anyway,” Bea said.“Ainsley said James called an executive session board meeting.Very hush-hush.That’s when they found out Winston had uncovered discrepancies across just about every area money came in and out of.Ainsley said it wasn’t just discrepancies.It was outright embezzlement.But he could tell James wasn’t comfortable using the word.Especially since all the evidence was pointing back at Henry.”
