Chapter 6: What the Apartment Was For
Diane agreed to meet me the following morning.
She was younger than I had expected — early thirties, with the careful posture of someone who had learned to be precise.
She sat across from me at a corner table in a quiet café and placed a manila folder on the table between us.
"Everything is in there," she said.
"Originals.
I kept copies."
I opened it.
The lease was dated fourteen months ago — four months before Rebecca had told me she was ready to move in together, seven months before she had accepted my proposal.
The apartment on Harlow Street was registered in Rebecca's name, paid quarterly, with a clause that permitted a secondary occupant.
"Who lives there?" I asked.
Diane wrapped both hands around her coffee cup.
"A man named Callum Marsh.
He's been there since the lease started."
I set the page down.
"She told me she ended things with her previous relationship before we met."
"She told me the same thing to pass along when you asked questions." Diane's voice was steady but not unkind.
"Callum is a property developer.
He's been in financial difficulty for about two years.
Rebecca has been supporting the apartment.
He's been advising her on certain investments in return."
"What investments?"
"Including the legal strategy around Emily."
I looked up.
"Callum has a contact in family law," Diane said.
"The solicitor Rebecca consulted — he's someone Callum has used before.
The approach wasn't Rebecca's idea originally.
It was his.
He advised her that the cleanest way to protect her financial position after the marriage was to establish primary influence over your household as quickly as possible."
"By removing my daughter."
"By removing the obstacle," Diane said quietly.
"I'm sorry.
That's the word he used in an email I typed for her.
I have that too."
She slid a printed email across the table.
The language was precise and cold.
Emily was referred to throughout as *the existing dependent* and *the primary complication.* The recommended timeline was laid out in four steps.
Step three was the family court petition.
Step four was a financial review of my assets once Rebecca held spousal status.
I read it to the end.
"She was never planning a life with me," I said.
"No," Diane said.
"I don't think she was."
I closed the folder.
Outside the café window, the street was ordinary — people walking, a bus pulling away, a woman pushing a pram.
The world entirely indifferent to what had just been laid out on a table in front of me.
"I need to ask you something," I said.
"Go ahead."
"Will you provide a statement?
Formally, if it comes to that?"
Diane looked down at her coffee.
A long pause.
"That's why I called you," she said.
"Yes."
I picked up the folder.
My phone rang as I stood to leave.
Rebecca's name on the screen.
I let it ring.
It rang again immediately after.
Then a text: *We need to talk.
I can explain everything.
Please, Nathan.
Don't do anything with those documents until we've spoken.
There are things you don't understand yet.*
I put the phone face-down in my jacket pocket.
May you like
There was one thing I understood very clearly.
She knew Diane had talked.
