Chapter 6: The Call That Changed Everything
She answered on the second ring.
"Thank you for calling." Her voice was younger than I expected.
Careful.
Like someone who had rehearsed being calm.
"You said you know about the account," I said.
"Start there."
A short pause.
"He told me it was a savings account.
That he was putting money aside for a fresh start.
For both of us." Another pause.
"I believed him for a long time."
"When did you stop believing him?"
"About two months ago.
He started talking about a third account.
One I didn't know about either.
He mentioned a property." She stopped.
"I'm not — I want you to understand, I'm not calling to defend myself.
What I did was wrong.
I knew he was married.
I told myself things that weren't true for a long time."
"What property?" I said.
"A rental unit.
About forty minutes outside the city.
He's been collecting rent on it for at least two years.
I only found out because he made a mistake — he forwarded me an email by accident.
A message from a property management company."
I looked at Elaine.
She had gone very still.
"He owns a rental property," I said.
"In his name only, from what I could see.
The email had an address."
"Give it to me."
She did.
I wrote it on the back of an envelope — the same envelope Elaine had pulled from her cardigan pocket the night before.
There was something almost unbearable about that detail.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"Because when I found out about the property, I confronted him.
I told him I wasn't going to be part of whatever he was building.
He told me I was overreacting.
He told me I didn't understand how these things worked." Her voice stayed even, but only just.
"Then he told me that if I caused any problems, he would make sure I looked like the unstable one.
That he had texts from me.
That he could make things very difficult."
"He threatened you."
"Yes."
I sat with that for a moment.
"Are you willing to put any of this in writing?" I said.
"For a lawyer."
"That's why I texted you," she said.
"Yes.
I'll put all of it in writing.
The account, the property, the threat.
Everything I know."
After I hung up, the kitchen was very quiet.
Elaine reached across the table and picked up the envelope with the address on it.
She looked at it for a moment.
"He built a second life," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"It looks that way."
She set the envelope down.
"What do you need from me right now?"
"I need you to be here when I call the lawyer," I said.
"I don't want to do that alone."
"I'm not going anywhere," she said.
My phone lit up on the table.
Donald's name on the screen.
May you like
I looked at it until it stopped ringing.
Then I picked up Elaine's lawyer recommendation from where she had written it on a notepad, and I dialed a different number entirely.
