Chapter 5: What She Did While He Was at the Diner
His lawyer's name was Patrick, and Patrick did not call before nine unless something had already gone wrong.
He stepped outside onto the sidewalk.
"What is it?"
"Where are you right now?"
"Calloway Street.
Why?"
"She went to your house this morning." Patrick's voice was flat and careful — the voice he used when he was managing information.
"Your neighbor called me because she still had my number from the property closing.
She said a woman arrived at seven-fifteen with two men and a moving truck."
He stood very still on the sidewalk.
"She had a key," Patrick continued.
"They were inside for approximately forty minutes.
Your neighbor said they carried out boxes.
She couldn't tell how many."
"I changed the alarm code last night."
"The alarm wasn't triggered, which means she either had the new code or she disabled the panel.
Does she know where you keep the spare?"
He closed his eyes.
The kitchen drawer.
He had shown her six weeks ago when she'd locked herself out.
"What did they take?"
"Your neighbor couldn't see clearly.
But she said one of the men carried out what looked like your laptop bag and a file box from your office."
The envelope in his hand suddenly felt heavier.
"Patrick.
She has access to my financial records.
Everything I keep in that office — the property documents, the investment accounts, the—"
"I know," Patrick said.
"I'm already on it.
Don't go back to the house yet.
Go somewhere she doesn't know and call me back in twenty minutes."
He ended the call and stood on the sidewalk outside the diner.
A woman walked past pushing a stroller.
A delivery truck rumbled by.
The morning moved around him like it had no idea what was happening.
He went back inside.
Donna was still at the table, pulling on her coat.
She looked at his face.
"What happened?"
"She went to my house this morning.
While I was here."
Donna went still.
"She took things from my office." He sat back down.
"She knew I'd be distracted.
She planned this."
"She's been planning this for a long time," Donna said carefully.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you."
"Is there anything else?
Anything you haven't shown me yet?"
Donna hesitated.
Just a fraction of a second — but he caught it.
"What?" he said.
She reached into her coat pocket and placed a small USB drive on the table between them.
"I recorded her," Donna said.
"The day she spoke to your daughter.
I didn't know if I'd ever use it.
But I kept it."
He looked at the drive.
"It's her voice," Donna said.
"Telling a six-year-old child that she was unwanted.
Clearly.
No room for misunderstanding."
He picked it up.
"She doesn't know this exists," Donna said.
"Which means she doesn't know what you have."
He closed his fingers around the drive.
His phone buzzed.
A text from a number he didn't recognize — different from the one he'd called last night.
*"Stay out of this.
You don't know who you're dealing with.
Walk away and this ends quietly."*
He showed the screen to Donna.
She read it.
May you like
Her expression didn't change.
"That's Carter," she said.
