Chapter 6: What Gary Knew
Emmett called me that evening.
I picked up before the second ring.
"You need to come over," he said.
"Gary's here.
We need to show you something."
Gary was sitting at Emmett's dining table when I arrived, a laptop open in front of him.
He stood when I came in and shook my hand — firmly, with both hands, the way men do when they're about to say something they've been carrying too long.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner," he said.
"I kept telling myself I was probably wrong."
"Show me," I said.
He turned the laptop toward me.
It was a social media profile.
A woman's profile — private, but Gary had a mutual connection who had shared screenshots.
The profile name wasn't Claire's name.
"She has a second account," Gary said.
"Different name.
She's been using it for about three years."
I looked at the screenshots.
Posts about travel, restaurants, a life that looked nothing like the life Claire had described to Emmett.
And in several of the photos, a man.
Not Emmett.
A different man, younger, with his arm around her in the easy way of someone who had been there a long time.
"Who is he?" Emmett asked.
His voice was very flat.
"His name is Daniel Marsh," Gary said.
"He's a financial advisor.
Based in Toronto.
I did some digging." He pulled up another tab.
"He specializes in estate planning.
Inheritance structures.
Trust funds."
The three of us sat with that for a moment.
"She told him about the trust," Emmett said.
It wasn't a question.
"I think so.
I think that's what she was planning." Gary closed the laptop halfway.
"I think she found out about Margot's inheritance — Phoebe's life insurance, the trust — and I think Daniel Marsh helped her figure out how to get access to it through marriage."
Emmett stood up and walked to the window.
He stood there with his back to us.
"She married me for Margot's money."
"We don't know that for certain yet," Gary said carefully.
"But the pieces fit."
"She asked about the trust structure four times," Emmett said.
"I counted, after you left today.
Four separate conversations.
I thought she was being responsible."
"Emmett," I said.
He turned around.
"This is not your fault," I said.
"She was careful.
She was patient.
She spent two years being exactly what you needed her to be."
"I brought her into Margot's life."
"You brought someone you believed was good into Margot's life.
That's different."
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he sat back down.
"What do I do?"
"First," I said, "you don't tell Claire what you know.
Not yet."
Gary nodded.
"If she knows we're onto her, she'll move fast.
If there's any legal mechanism she's already put in motion —"
"Is there?" I looked at Emmett.
He was already pulling out his phone.
"I'm calling the family solicitor.
Tonight."
While he made the call, Gary and I sat quietly.
Outside, a car passed.
Somewhere down the street, a dog barked twice and went quiet.
"She looked right at me," I said.
"In that corridor.
She knew I'd heard her."
"And she still went through with it," Gary said.
"That tells you something."
"It tells me she thought she was far enough along that one overheard phone call couldn't stop her."
Gary looked at the closed laptop.
"She might be right.
Depending on what she's already signed."
Emmett came back to the table.
His face had the focused, careful look of a man who has decided to stop feeling things until the work is done.
"Robert — the solicitor — is pulling the marriage documents tonight.
He wants to know if she had her own legal counsel review anything before the wedding."
"Did she?" I asked.
"She said she didn't want a prenup.
Said it felt unromantic." He set his phone down.
"I thought that was a good sign."
Gary said nothing.
I said nothing.
Emmett looked at us both.
"She didn't want a prenup because a prenup would have protected Margot's trust.
If there's no prenup, and she can establish grounds for a claim —"
"Robert will find it," I said.
"If there's anything there, he'll find it."
Emmett's phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
It was a message from Claire.
*Coming home soon?
Made dinner.
Miss you.*
He set the phone face-down on the table.
"I have to go back," he said.
"I can't let her know anything has changed."
"Can you do that?" Gary asked.
Emmett picked up his phone, turned it over, and typed a reply.
*On my way.
Save me a plate.*
He stood up and put on his jacket.
"I've been doing hard things for three years," he said.
"I can do one more night."
He left.
Gary and I sat at the table a little longer.
Neither of us spoke for a while.
Then Gary said, "He's going to be okay.
Right?"
"Yes," I said.
"And Margot?"
I thought of her on the dance floor, standing on my feet, her pink dress fanning out.
*Is Daddy going to be okay?*
"Margot," I said, "is going to be just fine."
Gary nodded.
He didn't look entirely convinced.
May you like
Neither was I, not yet.
But some things you say out loud because they need to exist in the air before they can become true.
