Chương 10
“He could be good.”
“Yes.”
That truth remained the hardest.
Ethan had sat with Claire during her divorce mediation. He had repaired their mother’s leaking irrigation system. He remembered birthdays, brought soup when people were sick, and once drove three hours to retrieve Victoria’s father after a canceled flight.
His worst actions did not erase his useful ones.
They contaminated them.
Victoria rubbed the pale band around her ring finger. The indentation had faded, but the skin still looked unfamiliar.
“I miss who I was with him,” she said.
Claire dried a glass.
“Who were you?”
“Certain.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
“It was restful.”
Claire set the glass down. “Maybe certainty was what he did instead of honesty.”
The doorbell rang.
Both sisters froze.
The security display showed Madison standing outside.
She wore jeans, a dark sweater, and flat shoes. Her long hair was tied back. No press waited at the curb.
Claire looked at Victoria. “Did you invite her?”
“No.”
“Should I call someone?”
Victoria considered Naomi’s instructions not to contact witnesses.
“She came to me.”
“That sounds like lawyer reasoning.”
“It is.”
Victoria opened the door but did not disengage the exterior chain.
Madison looked thinner. Shadows darkened the skin beneath her eyes.
“I need to talk to you.”
“You need to call my attorney.”
“I did. She won’t speak to me without my lawyer, and my lawyer won’t let me speak to anyone.”
“That sounds sensible.”
Madison glanced toward the street. “Please.”
Claire appeared behind Victoria.
Madison recognized her from the family photographs and looked away.
Victoria kept the chain fastened. “Are you recording this?”
“No.”
“Do you have a phone?”
“In my car.”
“Are you wearing a wire?”
Madison’s mouth tightened. “You watch too much television.”
“I watched my husband commit fraud from my driveway. My standards changed.”
Madison almost smiled, then didn’t.
“I found something,” she said.
Victoria felt Claire’s hand touch her shoulder.
“What?”
“A laptop.”
“Give it to the police.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s mine.”
“That is not a reason.”
“It has invoices on it. Drafts. Messages. Things I made.”
Victoria studied her.
“Things Ethan asked you to make?”
Madison’s eyes filled, but she blinked until the moisture held.
“He told me we were building a company.”
“You were.”
“He told me the payments were seed money.”
“You were an authorized user on the account.”
“He set that up. I gave him the verification code because he said the bank needed it for payroll.”
“You never checked?”
“I checked the balance.”
“And?”
“There was money.”
“Did that not make you curious?”
“It made me think he was serious.”
Victoria felt anger rise, clean and familiar. “Serious about business or serious about you?”
Madison’s jaw moved.
“Both.”
Claire whispered, “Vic.”
“No. She came here.”
Madison stepped closer to the door.
“He said you were done with the marriage. He said you cared about appearances and ownership, not him. He said the anniversary event was for clients and investors.”
“You took our photograph.”
“I was working.”
“You told us to stand closer.”
Madison looked down.
“That’s what I did at events.”
“You adjusted his tie.”
“It was crooked.”
“You watched him kiss me.”
Madison lifted her eyes. “I watched you move your face so he kissed your cheek.”
The accuracy of it struck Victoria silent.
At the anniversary dinner, Ethan had leaned toward her. She had turned at the last second because the reflection of Madison in the window had caught her attention.
Madison continued, quieter now.
“I knew something was wrong. I didn’t know what. I chose what he said because it gave me what I wanted.”
Victoria held the edge of the door.
Claire asked, “What’s on the laptop?”
Madison glanced at her.
“Draft invoices. Ethan told me which descriptions to use. Some dates don’t match. There are messages where I asked why.”
“Why didn’t the police find it?”
“It’s old. I stopped using it after the battery failed. It was in a box at my sister’s.”
“Then turn it over.”
“My attorney says the drafts could prove I participated.”
“They might.”
“I thought you’d say they proved Ethan did it.”
“They may prove both.”
Madison’s face hardened. “You hate me.”
“Yes.”
Claire’s fingers tightened on Victoria’s shoulder.
Victoria continued, “But hating you does not make you innocent or guilty.”
Madison looked surprised.
“I need to know what happens if I give it to them.”
“I don’t know.”
“Would you help me?”
“No.”
The answer came before Victoria could soften it.
Madison nodded as if she had expected nothing else.
Then Victoria said, “I would tell the truth about what I know.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I would not claim you understood things I cannot prove you understood. I would also not pretend you were a child.”
Madison swallowed.
“I’m twenty-seven.”
“I know.”
“He made me feel chosen.”
Victoria looked toward the anniversary photograph still standing on the console behind her.
“So did I,” she said.
Madison’s eyes moved to the pale band on Victoria’s finger.
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Then Victoria closed the door.
Claire waited until Madison’s footsteps reached the driveway.
“That was brutal.”
“She slept with my husband.”
“I meant your answer about helping.”
“I can’t promise to rescue her.”
“No.”
Claire lifted one eyebrow. “But you could give her your lawyer’s investigator’s number.”
Victoria opened the door again.
Madison had reached her car.
“Madison.”
She turned.
Victoria stepped onto the porch and held out Naomi’s card.
“Call the office. Ask for the independent evidence intake. Tell them you are represented and want instructions for a voluntary preservation transfer. They will contact your lawyer.”
Madison approached but stopped before taking the card.
“Why?”
“Because if the laptop matters, it should not spend another night in your trunk.”
Madison took it.
Her fingers were cold.
The laptop changed the case.
May you like
Forensic examiners recovered draft invoices created days after the services they claimed to document. Several files contained comments from an account registered to Ethan.
Make broader. No names.
