Chương 4
No magazine had mentioned how sound traveled from the primary bedroom to the sitting area below.
Victoria had learned that from the driveway, listening through the home security application while Madison laughed upstairs.
Ortiz returned to the sofa and lowered her voice. “I need you to understand something. Sending intimate photographs to a family group may expose you to civil claims. Depending on what was shown and how it was obtained, there could be other issues.”
“I didn’t send nudity.”
“That helps. It doesn’t make the choice harmless.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I do.”
“Then why did you do it?”
Victoria’s phone vibrated again.
She looked at the dark screen.
“My husband is very persuasive.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is the answer.”
For months, every concern had become a defect in Victoria.
A duplicate payment was her failure to understand vendor scheduling. A late tax notice was her tendency to panic over paperwork. A hotel charge was a client expense she had forgotten approving. Madison’s name appearing repeatedly in Ethan’s calendar was evidence that Victoria had become suspicious and cold.
Ethan did not merely deny facts. He made the act of noticing them shameful.
The family group had been cruel. Victoria understood that. She had selected it because it created witnesses who loved Ethan enough to search for excuses and loved her enough not to accept the easiest one.
“I needed the first version of tonight to come from evidence,” she said, “not from him.”
Ortiz’s expression softened, but only slightly. “Evidence does not become stronger because more people see it.”
“No. But lies become harder to coordinate.”
Across the room, Madison covered her face.
“I’m going to be sick.”
An officer directed her toward the downstairs bathroom after checking it for devices. Madison walked carefully, one hand against the wall.
Victoria watched the white dress disappear around the corner.
“She’s involved,” Victoria said.
“Maybe.”
“You don’t believe me.”
“I don’t make belief decisions this early.”
“The company uses her middle and last name.”
“That is evidence Ethan may have used her identity. It is also evidence she may have participated. Those are different theories.”
“She approved invoices.”
“Under what authority?”
“She was the vendor contact.”
“Did she create the invoices?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she receive the funds?”
“Some payments went to an account she could access.”
“Could access, or did access?”
Victoria said nothing.
Ortiz sat forward. “This is the part where your anger can make you careless. You know what your husband did to you. You do not yet know everything he did with her.”
“I know enough.”
“That sentence causes trouble.”
The bathroom door opened.
Madison returned with water on her wrists and no color in her face.
“My sister is coming,” she said.
Ortiz asked for the sister’s name and added it to a notepad.
Victoria stood.
The room tilted slightly. She reached for the back of the sofa and disguised the movement by smoothing a cushion.
Ortiz noticed.
“When did you last eat?”
“At lunch.”
“What time?”
“Yesterday’s lunch.”
Ortiz looked toward the kitchen. “Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t a medical assessment.”
Victoria sat.
An officer found crackers in the pantry and brought them on a white ceramic plate. Victoria had chosen that plate as part of a set because the irregular edges looked handmade. Ethan disliked them. He said food slid toward the rim.
She ate half a cracker.
It tasted like dust.
By two in the morning, the police had removed eight devices, four archive boxes, two external drives, and the smart-home system’s local recording unit. Madison’s sister arrived wearing gray sweatpants and a university sweatshirt. She did not enter the house. She stood under the portico with her arms crossed while Madison borrowed Victoria’s spare flats from the coat closet.
The shoes were too large.
Madison shuffled toward the door, stopped, and turned.
“Did he really transfer that much?”
Victoria glanced at Ortiz.
“You should discuss this with your attorney,” Ortiz said.
Madison looked at Victoria anyway.
“I don’t have an attorney.”
“You’ll need one,” Victoria said.
Madison swallowed. “I thought he was investing in a new events division.”
“Maybe he told himself that too.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“No,” Victoria said. “Neither am I.”
Madison flinched.
Then she left.
Ortiz stayed after the others had gone. The blue lights disappeared from the windows. Without them, the house seemed abruptly larger and emptier.
The bedroom doors remained open.
Victoria could see the edge of the bed upstairs. One burgundy pillow lay on the floor. Madison’s empty champagne glass stood on the nightstand beside Victoria’s reading glasses.
“I need to ask about the lockdown,” Ortiz said.
“I’ve already explained it.”
“You’ve described it. I need you to understand that Ethan may file a complaint.”
“He can.”
“You could face scrutiny.”
“I know.”
“Victoria.”
The use of her first name sounded almost personal.
Victoria looked down at the wine glass. The ring was barely visible in the dark red liquid.
“I was afraid he would destroy the phone.”
“You could have walked outside with it.”
“He would have followed me.”
“Officers were less than two minutes away.”
“He can do a great deal in two minutes.”
Ortiz folded her notepad closed. “Did he ever hurt you physically?”
“No.”
“Threaten you?”
“Not in language you could put in a report.”
“What language could I put in a report?”
Victoria considered it.
A month earlier, Ethan had stood in the kitchen while she questioned a transfer and said, You should be careful about making accusations when your own signatures are on the approvals.
Two weeks before that, he had said, A public dispute would make clients wonder whether you’re still capable of running the firm.
Neither sentence sounded like a threat when repeated without his tone.
“He reminded me what people might believe,” she said.
Ortiz waited, but Victoria offered nothing more.
“Do you have somewhere else to stay tonight?”
“This is my house.”
May you like
“So was the bedroom.”
Victoria looked upstairs.
