The Hotel

Chapter 36

The Hotel

They arrived at the hotel at twenty past one.

Robert Ashby was waiting in the lobby when they walked in. He looked older in the daylight than he had in that small room the night before. But his eyes were the same. Steady and unhurried and completely certain about what he was there to do.

He shook Ethan’s hand first. Then Dan’s. Then he looked at Judith.

“Mrs. Thompson,” he said.

“Mr. Ashby,” she said.

He nodded once. “Your father would be glad you are here.”

Judith held his gaze. “I know.”

He turned and led them through the lobby toward a set of double doors at the far end. His lawyer was already inside the conference room, a tall woman in her fifties with reading glasses pushed up on her head and three neat stacks of documents on the table in front of her.

Sarah Okafor was there too. She stood up when they came in.

“Good,” she said. “You are all here. Sit down. We have thirty minutes and I need to go through everything.”

They sat.

Sarah moved fast. She had done this before and it showed. She went through each key point on Ethan’s list and told them exactly how to deliver it. Short sentences. No unnecessary detail. Answer what is asked and nothing more. If a question felt like a trap, pause before answering. If anything felt wrong, look at Robert’s lawyer before speaking.

“Whitmore’s people will have someone in that room,” Sarah said. “Maybe more than one. They will ask questions designed to confuse the timeline or make the recording sound unreliable. Do not get pulled into an argument. Just go back to the facts.”

“What about my father’s counter press conference,” Dan asked.

“It started twenty minutes ago,” Sarah said. “I have someone there. He is claiming the entire thing is a coordinated attack against the Blackwood family by disgruntled former business associates.” She looked at them calmly. “Three of the twelve journalists in our room were at his press conference first. They left early to come here.”

Nobody said anything for a moment.

Then Dan said, “They left his press conference to come to ours.”

“Yes,” Sarah said.

Ethan leaned back in his chair slightly. Not relaxed. Just absorbing it.

Robert’s lawyer stood up and handed a document to each of them. “This is the summary of my client’s formal statement to the police this morning. Read it once quickly so you are familiar with the language used. If anyone references it in the room you want to be consistent.”

Judith read through it.

Her father’s name appeared in the third paragraph. Gerald Thompson. Refused to continue participation following discovery of fraudulent fund movement. Raised concerns internally. Died in a road accident three months later. Investigation recommended.

She put the document down on the table.

“Are you alright,” Dan said quietly beside her.

“Yes,” she said.

Robert was watching her from across the table. “You do not have to speak about your father today if you do not want to,” he said. “The documents speak for themselves.”

“I want to,” Judith said.

Robert nodded.

Sarah looked at her watch. “Ten minutes. I am going to let the press in at two on the dot. We start with Ethan’s statement, then Robert, then Judith. Dan you speak last. Questions after.” She looked at each of them. “Any questions before we begin.”

Silence.

“Good,” Sarah said. She walked to the door.

The room was quiet for a moment.

Elena was sitting against the wall behind Ethan. She caught Judith’s eye and gave her a small nod. Judith nodded back.

Dan leaned slightly toward her. “How are you feeling.”

“Like I want it to be over,” she said honestly.

“Same,” he said.

Ethan was looking at the folder in front of him. He had not said much since they arrived. He did not need to. He had said everything that needed saying last night in Robert’s room and in the car on the way here. Now it was just about doing it.

He looked up and caught Judith looking at him.

Neither of them said anything.

The double doors opened.

Journalists came in. Twelve of them, some with cameras, some with recorders, some with both. They filled the seats on the other side of the long table quickly and efficiently. The room went from quiet to full in under two minutes.

Sarah stood at the front. “Thank you all for coming. We will begin with an opening statement from Ethan Blackwood, followed by Robert Ashby and then Judith Thompson and Dan Blackwood. There will be time for questions after all four statements have been made. Nothing before that. Those are the terms you agreed to when you confirmed attendance.”

A few nods from the journalists.

Sarah looked at Ethan.

Ethan opened the folder.

He looked at the room. At the cameras and the recorders and the twelve faces watching him. Then he looked down at the first page.

He had written it himself last night in the car on the way back from meeting Juliana. Judith had read it on the list. Clean and precise and ordered.

He began to read.

“My name is Ethan Blackwood. I am the CEO of Blackwood Group and the son of Richard Blackwood. What I am about to tell you concerns decisions made by my father, by a man named Charles Whitmore, and by myself in the early months of my marriage to Judith Thompson. I am not here to protect any of those decisions. I am here because the truth about what happened to Gerald Thompson six years ago and what has been done to his daughter since deserves to be said out loud.”

The room was completely still.

He kept reading.