Chapter 5: The Document on the Table
Carol read it twice.
She set it down, picked it up, read it again.
I watched her face go through three different things before it settled into something hard and focused.
"Sit down," she said.
"I don't want to sit down."
"Sit down anyway."
I sat.
The room had mostly emptied now.
A few people lingered near the hallway, uncertain whether to leave or stay.
Carol looked at them once and they left.
Vanessa was still there.
Standing near the window with her arms crossed, like she didn't know if she was allowed to go.
Carol set the document in front of me.
"He's filed a claim of beneficial interest.
His solicitor is arguing that because he contributed to the mortgage, the renovations, and the household costs for seven years, he has an equitable share regardless of whose name is on the deed."
I looked at the pages.
Nathan's name.
A firm I didn't recognize.
A date from eighteen months ago.
"He's been planning this for a year and a half," I said.
"At least."
I thought about the renovation two summers ago.
Nathan had insisted on managing the contractors.
He'd paid several invoices directly from his account, said it was easier.
I hadn't thought anything of it.
We were married.
Money moved between us all the time.
"He kept the receipts," Carol said.
"It's in there.
He documented everything."
"He was building a case."
"Yes."
I sat with that for a moment.
The birthday balloons were still tied to the chairs.
There was cake on the counter.
Lucas's drawings were taped to the refrigerator.
Nathan had been sitting at that kitchen table for eighteen months, eating dinner with us, helping with bath time, kissing me goodnight — and building a legal case to take my mother's house.
"What do I do?" I asked.
"You call a solicitor tomorrow morning.
First thing." Carol sat across from me.
"But tonight you need to know something else."
"What?"
She glanced toward Vanessa, then back at me.
"She's not the first one."
I looked up.
"There was someone before her.
About three years ago." Carol's voice was careful.
"I didn't tell you because I wasn't certain.
And then it seemed to stop and I thought I'd been wrong." She paused.
"I wasn't wrong."
"You knew."
"I suspected.
There's a difference."
"Carol—"
"I know." She reached across the table and put her hand over mine.
"I know.
I'm sorry.
I should have said something the moment I suspected and I didn't and I'm sorry."
I didn't pull my hand away.
But I didn't say it was all right either, because it wasn't.
Vanessa's voice came from across the room.
"There's something else you should know."
We both looked at her.
She reached into her bag and took out her phone.
She turned the screen toward me.
It was a screenshot of a text conversation.
Nathan's name at the top.
The most recent message was from four days ago.
*"Once it's done, we list the house.
Split the proceeds.
Start fresh somewhere she's never been."*
I read it once.
"He told you he'd split the money with you," I said.
"Yes."
"From my mother's house."
"Yes." Vanessa's voice was very quiet.
"I thought it was his house too.
I genuinely thought that." She set the phone on the table.
"You can screenshot that.
I'll send it to you directly if you want it."
I looked at her for a long moment.
She'd worn my mother's necklace.
She'd known he was married.
She'd accepted a gift box with a card that talked about my disappearance.
But she was also standing in my kitchen handing me evidence.
"Send it to me," I said.
She did.
I forwarded it immediately to Carol, then sat looking at my phone.
Nathan was somewhere in this house.
Or he'd already left.
I didn't know which.
Then Lucas's voice came from the hallway.
May you like
"Mommy?
Is Daddy coming back?"
