Chapter 3
Margaret arrived at Marcus's house forty minutes later.
By then, the snow had grown heavier.
White flakes covered the front steps and gathered along the windows.
I sat in the living room wrapped in a blanket Marcus had brought me.
Vanessa remained upstairs.
Marcus had told her not to disturb me until Margaret arrived.
For once, she listened.
When the doorbell rang, I stood before Marcus could reach it.
Margaret entered carrying a brown leather handbag.
She was sixty-six, with short silver curls and kind eyes that looked unusually worried.
The moment she saw me, she embraced me.
"Evelyn."
I clung to her.
"Tell me Arthur wasn't betraying me."
She pulled back.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"He loved you."
I wanted to believe her.
More than anything.
But the photograph was lying on the coffee table between us.
I pointed toward it.
"Then explain that."
Margaret sat beside me.
Marcus took the chair opposite us.
She opened her handbag.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front.
In Arthur's handwriting.
I touched the letters.
Evelyn Carter.
My husband had written my name thousands of times.
On birthday cards.
On grocery lists.
On the little notes he left beside my coffee cup.
Seeing his handwriting again nearly broke me.
"Why didn't you give me this before?" I asked.
Margaret lowered her eyes.
"Because Arthur asked me to wait."
"Until when?"
"Until certain circumstances made it necessary."
Marcus leaned forward.
"What circumstances?"
Margaret looked toward the staircase.
"If Vanessa tried to remove Evelyn from the family home, or if someone attempted to access the protected accounts."
My heart began pounding.
"What protected accounts?"
Margaret opened the envelope.
Inside were copies of bank records, a letter from Arthur, and several photographs.
The first photograph showed Arthur standing outside the Grand Willow Hotel.
Beside him was Vanessa.
But unlike the framed picture, this photograph included a third person.
A man wearing a dark suit.
I didn't recognize him.
Marcus leaned closer.
"Who's that?"
Margaret answered.
"Daniel Brooks."
I frowned.
"Who?"
"An attorney Arthur hired privately."
I stared at the photograph.
"Why would Arthur hire a lawyer without telling me?"
Margaret looked pained.
"He thought someone had been misusing your personal information."
My stomach tightened.
"Whose information?"
"Yours."
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
Marcus stared at her.
"What do you mean?"
Margaret removed a bank statement.
Several transactions were highlighted.
They came from an investment account held jointly by Arthur and me.
I recognized the account number.
We had opened it twenty years earlier.
The withdrawals began nearly three years ago.
Five thousand dollars.
Eight thousand.
Twelve thousand.
One transfer was for twenty-five thousand dollars.
My hands began shaking.
"Arthur never told me."
Margaret nodded sadly.
"He discovered the withdrawals when reviewing your retirement accounts."
Marcus looked at the statement.
"Where did the money go?"
Margaret pointed toward the receiving account.
"It belonged to a consulting company."
I frowned.
"What company?"
She handed him another page.
Crescent Ridge Holdings.
Registered in Georgia.
Marcus scanned the document.
Then his face changed.
"Vanessa's maiden name is Brooks."
Margaret nodded.
"Daniel Brooks isn't related to her. But the company was registered using information connected to one of her former business associates."
I felt sick.
"Are you saying Vanessa stole our money?"
Margaret hesitated.
"Arthur believed she was involved."
"Believed?"
"He hadn't confirmed everything when he became seriously ill."
I pressed a hand against my chest.
Arthur had been diagnosed with heart disease years earlier.
During his final months, he became weaker.
He often sat in his favorite chair reading old newspapers while I made tea.
He never told me about missing money.
Not once.
"Why didn't he tell me?" I whispered.
Margaret looked at me.
"Because he was afraid the stress would hurt you."
I shook my head.
"He should have trusted me."
"Yes," she said softly. "He should have."
That answer surprised me.
I had expected her to defend him.
Instead, she acknowledged the pain his silence had caused.
Marcus studied the photographs.
"Why did Dad meet Vanessa at the hotel?"
Margaret took a breath.
"Because Arthur confronted her about the transfers."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"Daniel arranged the meeting. Arthur wanted Vanessa to explain the transactions."
I looked at the framed photograph again.
"Then why are they posing like that?"
Margaret's expression darkened.
"That's the part Arthur never fully understood."
She removed another page.
It was a printed email.
Vanessa had sent it to Arthur three days after the meeting.
The message contained a photograph attachment.
The same photograph.
Beneath it was a sentence.
"If Evelyn sees this, imagine what she'll believe."
I felt my blood turn cold.
Marcus read it twice.
Then he stood abruptly.
"She was blackmailing him."
Margaret nodded.
"That's what Arthur believed."
I stared at the photograph.
Suddenly, everything looked different.
Arthur's expression wasn't affectionate.
It was uncomfortable.
His shoulders were stiff.
Vanessa's arm was wrapped around him, but he wasn't embracing her.
She was controlling the image.
Creating something that could destroy my trust in him.
I began crying.
For months after Arthur died, I had wondered whether I missed him too much.
I had kept his favorite chair beside the window.
I still cooked enough food for two people sometimes.
I still woke in the night expecting to hear his breathing.
And now I had almost believed he had betrayed me.
Margaret reached for my hand.
"There's more."
I looked at her.
She removed a letter.
Arthur had written it several months before his death.
I recognized the familiar slant of his handwriting.
Margaret handed it to me.
I opened it carefully.
"My dearest Evelyn,
If you are reading this, then I failed to resolve something before leaving you.
I made the mistake of keeping a dangerous secret because I believed I could protect you from pain.
I was wrong.
You have always been stronger than I gave you credit for.
And you deserve the truth."
Tears blurred the words.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
Marcus reached for my hand.
I continued reading.
Arthur explained that he suspected Vanessa had accessed financial accounts after helping him with online banking.
He had found irregular transfers.
When he confronted her, she denied involvement.
Then she threatened to show me a photograph that could make our relationship appear inappropriate.
Arthur wrote that he had hired Daniel to investigate.
He also wrote that he had changed passwords and arranged additional protections for our accounts.
But the final paragraph made me stop breathing.
"I discovered something else about Vanessa's past. If she ever tries to separate you from Marcus, ask Daniel about the name Victoria Lane."
I looked up.
"Victoria Lane?"
Margaret nodded.
"Arthur found that name connected to Vanessa."
Marcus frowned.
"That's not her name."
Margaret looked at him.
"Not the name she gave you."
A cold silence settled over the room.
Then footsteps sounded on the staircase.
Vanessa appeared.
She had changed into a cream-colored sweater.
Her face was pale.
And she was staring directly at Arthur's letter.
"Where did you get that?" she whispered.
I slowly stood.
"Who is Victoria Lane?"
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Marcus turned toward her.
"Answer my mother."
She looked from him to Margaret.
Then she whispered, "You have no idea what Arthur was involved in."
I held the letter tightly.
"Then tell us."
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
But this time, there was something behind them.
Not just fear.
Rage.
She pointed at Margaret.
"She knows exactly why Arthur kept that letter hidden."
Margaret went pale.
May you like
I looked between them.
And suddenly, I realized the secret might involve more people than my daughter-in-law alone.
