Before the reception, Lenora had asked her to stay near the foyer when guests departed.
“Why?” Naomi asked.
Coraline looked ashamed.
“She said Sterling might corner her.”
“Did she expect violence?”
“No. I thought she meant pressure.”
“Did she tell you about the loan?”
“Only that Thatcher had gotten himself into something serious.”
Kalista looked up.
Coraline continued.
“Lenora said she wanted one person there who wasn’t financially dependent on Sterling.”
That phrase mattered.
Most relatives at the wedding worked for Hale Meridian.
Coraline did not.
She had left the company eight years earlier and ran a catering business.
Then Naomi asked:
“What happened after Lenora fell?”
Coraline’s face tightened.
“Sterling told everyone to stay back.”
Kalista remembered the frozen relatives.
Coraline continued.
“Then Thatcher grabbed you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you heard him afterward?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Coraline hesitated.
“He told his father, ‘The video can’t leave this building.’”
Kalista looked toward Naomi.
That was why Thatcher had chased the phone.
May you like
Not just embarrassment.
Evidence.
