Chapter 6: What Diane Knew
She was already seated when I arrived, at a small café two neighborhoods from mine.
She had chosen a corner table, her back to the wall, and she was nursing a black coffee with both hands wrapped around the mug like she needed the warmth.
She looked nothing like Karen.
Where Karen was polished and controlled, Diane looked tired.
There were shadows under her eyes and something careful in the way she watched the door.
"Thank you for coming," she said.
I sat down.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because what happened to your mother wasn't right." She set down the mug.
"And because Karen's been planning something worse, and I'm not willing to be part of it anymore."
"What do you mean, something worse?"
Diane reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.
She turned it to face me.
It was a screenshot of a text thread.
Karen's name at the top.
The messages were dated three weeks ago — before the dinner had even been arranged.
I read the first one.
*If we can get her mother on record making a scene or refusing to pay, we can use it.
Daniel's friends all know the family.
It'll spread.*
I looked up.
"She wanted to record my mom."
"She brought a small recorder in her bag.
She was hoping your mother would cry or argue with the waiter so she'd have something to show Daniel.
Something to prove your family wasn't —" Diane stopped.
"She's been against this engagement since the beginning.
She thinks you're after Daniel's money."
"Daniel doesn't have money.
His mother has money."
"I know that.
But Karen doesn't see it that way." Diane turned the phone back toward herself.
"There's more.
Keep reading."
I leaned forward.
The next message was from Karen to someone saved only as *R*.
*She'll be alone.
Make sure the table next to them is taken.
I want eyes on it from both sides.*
"Who is R?" I said.
Diane hesitated.
"Her lawyer."
I sat back.
"Her lawyer was in the restaurant," I said slowly.
"At the table to your mother's left.
He was there to observe and advise Karen on whether anything your mother said or did could be used in a legal context.
To challenge the engagement.
There's a clause in Daniel's grandfather's estate — if Daniel marries someone Karen formally objects to and can document reasons for the objection, she controls the trust disbursement timeline."
The café felt very quiet suddenly.
"She wasn't trying to humiliate my mom," I said.
"She was building a case."
Diane looked at her coffee.
"Yes."
"And the bill — the twenty-three hundred dollars —"
"Was meant to make your mother either cause a scene or be unable to pay.
Either outcome worked for Karen.
A scene on record, or proof of financial instability."
I stared at the table.
"Will you send me those screenshots?" I said.
Diane picked up her phone.
"Already done."
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
"Why?" I said.
"Why are you telling me this now?"
She was quiet for a moment.
Then: "Because your mother ordered a salad.
She sat there alone for thirty minutes and she didn't make a scene.
She just called her daughter." Diane looked up.
"Karen saw that and called it weakness.
I watched it and thought — that woman has more dignity than anyone at that table."
I didn't trust myself to speak for a moment.
"There's one more thing," Diane said.
"Karen has a meeting with her lawyer on Friday.
May you like
I don't know exactly what she's filing, but she's moving fast.
Whatever you're going to do — do it before then."
