Chương 5
Mark’s administrator profile had logged in twelve minutes earlier.
Someone had checked the apartment cameras.
I changed nothing.
“Can we remove him?”
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
I paused.
Removing him would tell him immediately that we knew more than he expected.
“We can.”
“You said safe first.”
“I did.”
“Then remove him.”
There was no hesitation in her voice.
I deleted Mark’s administrator access and revoked every shared device connected to the system.
Less than a minute later, Maya’s phone rang again.
This time she answered.
I looked at her, surprised.
She raised one finger toward me.
Not now.
Mark’s voice was faint through the speaker.
“Where are you?”
Maya stared at the ceiling.
“At the hospital.”
“What?”
“I’m at the hospital.”
A pause.
“What happened?”
She closed her eyes.
“I started bleeding.”
Another pause.
Longer this time.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Maya looked at me.
There were a dozen answers in her face.
She chose none of them.
“I was busy.”
Mark exhaled sharply.
“Is Liam okay?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“The doctor is treating me.”
“I’m coming back.”
Maya’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
“Stay where you are.”
“Maya, don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Turn this into some huge thing because I needed a few days.”
Her expression went still.
He continued talking.
I could not hear every word, but I heard enough.
Stress.
Space.
Marriage.
Pressure.
Misunderstanding.
Then Chloe’s voice sounded somewhere near him, indistinct but unmistakably female.
Mark stopped speaking.
Maya did not.
“Enjoy Miami,” she said.
The line went silent.
Then Mark said her name once.
She ended the call.
Her hand trembled so badly she nearly dropped the phone.
I reached for it.
She held on.
“No.”
“What?”
“Don’t take it from me.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were.”
She looked at me with wet eyes and a strange, frightened steadiness.
“Everybody keeps taking things from me.”
I lowered my hand.
Maya placed the phone on the table herself.
A minute later, the messages began arriving.
She did not open them.
Neither did I.
Across the room, Liam started to fuss.
Maya pushed herself upright, slowly this time, respecting the pain instead of pretending it was not there.
I lifted the bassinet closer.
She put one hand against his chest.
He quieted beneath her palm.
Then Maya looked at me and said, “Tomorrow, I want to know where every dollar went.”
At eight the next morning, Evelyn arrived wearing a navy coat over black slacks and carrying two coffees, neither of which she offered me.
She handed one to Maya instead.
“You look terrible,” she said.
Maya blinked.
“I like you already.”
“That’s unfortunate, because I charge by the hour.”
Maya gave a weak laugh and took the cup with both hands.
Evelyn pulled a chair toward the bed, set a leather folder on her lap, and looked at me.
“You can stay if she wants you here.”
Maya glanced at me.
“Stay.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Good, then we start with what you want, not what your mother wants, not what your husband wants, and definitely not what I would want after seeing those recordings.”
Maya lowered the coffee.
“I want him away from Liam.”
“For now or permanently?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s an acceptable answer.”
“I want access to my money.”
“Also reasonable.”
“And I want to know what I signed.”
Evelyn opened the folder.
“That one may take some work.”
I watched Maya’s shoulders settle slightly.
Evelyn had that effect on people.
She did not promise safety.
She simply made chaos sound divisible.
“The first thing we need is a clean line between what we know and what we suspect,” Evelyn said.
“I know he lied about how much money my mother sent.”
“Yes.”
“I know he’s sleeping with Chloe.”
“We know they kissed.”
Maya’s expression hardened.
Evelyn did not retreat.
“We can infer an affair, and I personally would infer it with enthusiasm, but legal documents enjoy boring language.”
Maya looked down at her coffee.
“Fine.”
“We know he told you your mother reduced Denise’s hours.”
“Yes.”
“We know the recordings show Denise removing food, infant supplies, and other items.”
“Yes.”
“We do not yet know whether Mark instructed her to take them, whether she believed they were hers, whether she resold them, or whether there was some arrangement among them.”
Maya looked at me.
“She took Liam’s diapers.”
“I know.”
“I watched her.”
“I know.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“And anger is allowed.”
Maya’s mouth tightened.
“But if you want the truth to survive contact with other people’s lawyers, we keep the language precise.”
That was exactly what I would have told a young detective.
I found myself liking Evelyn less for saying it to my daughter and more for being right.
She asked Maya for permission to review the messages Mark had sent overnight.
There were twenty-three.
The first six were defensive.
The next eight were affectionate in the desperate, mechanical way of a man trying to restore control.
By the final messages, his tone had shifted.
He said Maya was overreacting.
He said I was poisoning her against him.
He warned her not to make decisions while medicated.
Then, at 5:12 a.m., he wrote, I need you to remember what you signed.
Evelyn read that one twice.
“There.”
Maya stared at the screen.
“What does that mean?”
“We don’t know.”
“He’s threatening me.”
“Maybe.”
“What else could it mean?”
Evelyn handed back the phone.
“It could mean exactly what it sounds like.”
She paused.
“It could also mean he believes those documents give him leverage.”
I felt the old impulse to stand, move, call people, force the day forward.
Instead, I stayed in the chair.
“What can we do now?” I asked.
Evelyn looked at Maya before answering me.
“With your permission, I can contact the bank and request records connected to accounts in your name or jointly held accounts you’re entitled to access.”
May you like
Maya nodded.
“I can also have my office pull any recently recorded property filings or business registrations involving you or Mark.”
