Chapter 10: What Diane Found Out
Diane learned about Gerald's call to his lawyer on a Thursday afternoon, through Thomas, who had learned it from a contact at the firm — someone who owed him a favor and had said too much.
She was in her car when Thomas called.
"He's moving everything," Thomas said.
His voice had lost its usual smoothness.
"Not just the baby's trust.
He's restructuring the whole estate.
My share goes to charity if I contest it."
"He can do that?"
"Apparently he already has.
The papers were filed this morning." A silence.
"This is your fault."
Diane pulled the car to the side of the road.
"I did what you asked," she said carefully.
"I asked you to create doubt.
Not to accuse a maid of attempted kjlling in front of a security camera."
"I didn't know the camera was working."
"You should have checked."
The line went quiet for a moment.
Outside her window, a woman was walking a dog along the pavement, unhurried, entirely unaware.
"What do you want to do?" Diane asked.
"Nothing," Thomas said.
"There's nothing to do.
He's made up his mind and he has the footage and he has witnesses and I have a lawyer telling me that if I push this any further I lose the contingency clause entirely." His voice went flat.
"It's over."
"Thomas—"
"Don't call me for a while, Diane."
The line went dead.
Diane sat in her car on the side of the road for a long time.
She thought about the house with its roses and its pool and its careful, watchful maid.
She thought about the two seconds she had stood looking at Maya before she turned toward the house — the calculation she had made, the certainty she had felt.
She had been so sure the camera was dead.
She started the car.
There was nothing left to do here.
No second move, no other way.
Thomas was right about that much.
The footage existed.
Rosa had spoken.
Gerald had acted.
The shape of what she had tried to do was visible now from every angle, and there was no version of this story in which she came out looking like anything other than what she was.
She drove away from the neighborhood without looking back.
She did not call anyone.
May you like
She left no message.
That silence was the loudest thing she had done all week.
