Unfortunately, way too early for a glass of wine.Even though she’d rather crawl under her blankets, she would have to offer David something.He did drive her all the way to Hermanus.
“Would you like coffee or tea?”she asked David and rubbed her forehead.
He was coming closer and took a seat at the counter.“Coffee would be nice, thanks.Headache?”
She nodded and put the kettle on.
“Do you have something to take?”
She nodded and pointed toward a small cupboard.“I’ll get something later.”She took out the coffee mugs.
David got up, opened the cupboard door, and took out the bottle of pain pills.He got a glass from the counter, poured water in it, and handed the pills and the glass to her.
Her throat clogged up.
“Thanks,” she got out before swallowing down the pills.
“I love your house,” David murmured as he looked around.
“Thanks, it’s an old place, but I love the wooden floors, window panes,” she said putting the mugs on the counter and looking around.
It was also home, her space.Her mother had tried to get her to sell it after her dad’s death and move in with her, but this was the one thing she’d been trying desperately to hang on to.This was the one place she could find calm, where her life seemed ordinary, tranquil even.
“So tell me your version of the story.”She didn’t even try to hide her skepticism.
*
David threw alast glance at Dana’s neat house.
Everything was done in white, and it was obvious she’d tried to create an uncluttered space in which there was order, where things were sorted and filed, a place where she could forget about the turmoil that was her life at the moment.
He put his mug down and looked at Dana.
Dark circles under her eyes gave her a haunted look.She seemed lost somehow, and he had to clamp down his urge to take her into his arms.
He couldn’t remember ever feeling this way about a woman.Dana was hurting, and he wanted to take care of her, wanted to make all the bad stuff go away.But the determined lift of her chin in spite of her obvious distress was a clear indication she was used to solving her own problems.
“As I’ve said, I was the one who took the story to the editor; that is true.And, yes, I wanted to make sure the front page would be mine, but I told him I still had to verify some facts,” he began and continued to tell her what had happened.
She listened without interrupting him until he’d finished.At last, her stiff shoulders relaxed somewhat.
“Why did you write my dad’s name in the margin?”
He hesitated.“He was one of the people my source said I should talk to.In the original article I wrote, I mentioned the fact that several independent financial advisors marketed Hastings’s product as well.What I didn’t do, and should have done before I took the story to the editor, was to talk to these guys, your dad included.”
“So you didn’t even know whether my dad was involved in any way?”she asked, stunned.
David rubbed his face.How much should he tell her?
“David, tell me what you know,” Dana insisted.
“Okay.Fact.The financial advisors who were involved were selling Hastings’s product.Fact.They earned large commissions from Hastings for every deal.This is on record.What I don’t know is whether your dad was selling the product and to what degree the financial advisors were privy to what was going on, whether they knew that Hastings was running a Ponzi scheme and wasn’t investing their clients’ money but spending it.I quit the job after the editor hijacked my story, joined my brothers, and made sure I ignored the story.”
Dana chewed on her lower lip.“How culpable would my dad have been?That is to say, if he did in fact market this specific product at all.”
“Look, as I’ve said, I never spoke to him, but if he did sell it, he was supposed to make sure every deal he offered a client was aboveboard, that the financial institution he was representing was legitimate.So, if he was involved, I’m afraid he would not have gotten off scot-free.I don’t know what happened to the other advisors involved.I didn’t follow the rest of the story, but I suspect that, at the very least, they would have had to pay back their clients’ money and/or were given a jail sentence.”
Devastated, Dana looked at David, a tear rolling down her cheek.
