Chương 5
At the desk, the young clerk asked whether she wanted one key or two.
“One.”
The answer hit her in the chest.
She looked down before the clerk could see her face.
The room smelled faintly of industrial lemon cleaner.
Laura put the suitcase on the luggage rack and sat on the bed.
For ten minutes she did nothing.
No tears.
No phone calls.
No plans.
She watched a muted cooking competition on television and held the remote without remembering turning the TV on.
At 7:18, Maya called.
“I saw your message.”
Laura stared at the patterned carpet.
“I found the folder missing.”
“The original?”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel?”
“He says he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”
A pause.
“What happened today?”
Laura told her.
Not gracefully.
She forgot pieces and had to go back.
Maya listened.
When Laura reached Rebecca, she stopped.
For the first time all day, her voice failed.
Maya waited.
Laura swallowed.
“There’s another woman.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not even at that part yet.”
“What part are you at?”
“The deed.”
“All right.”
Laura appreciated the answer.
No comfort forced on her.
No instruction about how she should feel.
Maya said, “The certified copy you have is useful. The missing original matters, but losing the paper does not change the recorded ownership.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“He told Rebecca I signed the house over.”
Maya was silent.
Then: “That is more concerning.”
Laura lay back against the pillows and covered her eyes.
“I should have confronted him three weeks ago.”
“Maybe.”
Laura lowered her hand.
She had expected Maya to say no.
Most people would.
Maya continued, “Or maybe confronting him would have warned him before you understood what he was doing.”
“I hate that answer.”
“It’s still my answer.”
Laura laughed despite herself.
A small, ugly sound.
Then she cried.
Not loudly.
She turned toward the wall and pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead while tears slipped into her hair.
Maya waited again.
When Laura could speak, she said, “What do I do?”
“Tonight? Nothing irreversible.”
“He’s in my house.”
“Yes.”
“With all my papers.”
“Possibly.”
“And you want me to do nothing?”
“I want you to stop imagining that speed is control.”
Laura shut her eyes.
That sounded like something Maya charged four hundred dollars an hour to say.
Unfortunately, it was also right.
They made a list.
Change passwords.
Freeze access to accounts that were Laura’s alone.
Download copies of joint account statements.
Preserve photographs.
Email the police incident number.
Do not accuse Daniel of forgery in public or on social media.
Do not enter the house alone if she felt unsafe.
Do not destroy, remove, or hide Daniel’s property in retaliation.
At nine, Laura ordered soup she did not eat.
At ten, Melissa texted.
I found something.
Laura stared at the screen.
A second message came.
Can I come over?
Laura called instead.
“What did you find?”
Melissa sounded frightened.
“A folder.”
Laura sat up.
“What color?”
“You know what color.”
“Where?”
There was a long pause.
“My car.”
Laura stood.
“What?”
“Daniel gave me a canvas tote this afternoon. Before you got there. He said it had old tax papers and asked me to keep it because you were taking everything.”
Laura gripped the phone.
“And you did?”
“Yes.”
“You took documents out of my house because Daniel told you to?”
“I didn’t know what was in the bag.”
“You didn’t look?”
“No.”
Laura paced to the window.
Cars moved along the highway beyond the parking lot.
“What’s in it?”
“I don’t know. I saw the blue folder on top and stopped.”
“Don’t touch anything.”
“I already touched the bag.”
“Then don’t touch it again.”
“Laura—”
“Bring it to the hotel.”
“Shouldn’t I give it to Daniel?”
Laura stopped walking.
Melissa heard herself.
“Oh.”
“Yes,” Laura said.
“Oh.”
“Come here.”
Twenty-five minutes later Melissa arrived with Ethan asleep in the back seat.
She had brought the tote.
Laura did not open it.
She photographed it where Melissa placed it on the desk, then called Maya.
Maya told her to seal it in a large hotel laundry bag until morning and make a note of who had handled it.
Melissa looked embarrassed.
“Like evidence?”
“Possibly.”
Melissa sat on the edge of the second bed.
Laura stood by the desk.
Neither knew how to talk to the other anymore.
Finally Melissa said, “Daniel told me you emptied the savings account.”
“I didn’t.”
“He said you were seeing somebody.”
“I’m not.”
“He said you wanted the house because you were going to sell it and move to Florida.”
“I hate Florida.”
Melissa looked at her.
Laura shrugged.
“I do.”
Against all logic, Melissa laughed.
It lasted half a second.
Then she covered her face.
“I brought my son to this.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
Laura almost said yes.
The word rose immediately.
She swallowed it.
Melissa lowered her hands.
“Were you two unhappy?”
Laura looked at the laundry bag on the desk.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“That long?”
“Probably.”
Melissa nodded.
“Daniel always said you were impossible to read.”
“Daniel says that when people don’t agree with him fast enough.”
Melissa winced.
Laura regretted the sentence as soon as it landed.
It was true.
It was also cruel in a way that had nothing to do with the folder.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“I’m angry.”
“I know.”
“At you too.”
Melissa looked at her.
“That’s fair.”
Laura wanted to reject the easy answer.
Instead she sat down.
“When did Rebecca start?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you know her?”
“I’d met her once at Daniel’s office.”
“When?”
“June, maybe.”
Laura stared.
Melissa noticed.
“He introduced her as the new scheduler.”
“New scheduler?”
“Or project coordinator. Something.”
Laura stood again.
Daniel’s company had not hired anyone in June.
At least not according to him.
He had told Laura he was cutting payroll.
Melissa watched her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
May you like
“I need the statements from the business account.”
“You have access?”
