Chapter 3 - What Rachel Had Written Down
Rachel refused to come home that night.
Ethan didn’t blame her.
He put Marlene’s suitcase on the front porch and told her to leave.
She called him ungrateful.
Then cruel.
Then confused.
When none of those worked, she cried.
“I gave everything to this family.”
Ethan stood in the doorway holding Lily.
“And you just kept my wife away from her daughter.”
“I was trying to save your marriage.”
“By lying to both of us?”
Marlene looked at Lily.
“Someday you’ll understand what I prevented.”
Ethan closed the door.
For the first time since his father died eleven years earlier, his mother no longer had a key to his house.
Then he opened Rachel’s notebook.
Most of it looked boring.
Vendor names.
Invoice numbers.
Dates.
Amounts.
Rachel worked as a senior financial analyst for a regional healthcare company. During maternity leave she had offered to help Ethan clean up bookkeeping for Walker Residential, the custom renovation business he inherited from his father.
Ethan hated paperwork.
Marlene had handled much of it for years.
Rachel had circled six payments.
Three went to a flooring supplier.
Two to a project-management consultant.
One to something called MW Property Services.
Beside the last name Rachel had written:
No website.
No current registration?
Same mailing address as M?
Ethan felt his stomach tighten.
Marlene Walker.
He called Rachel again.
“What is MW Property Services?”
She went quiet.
“You haven’t looked at the bank records?”
“I’m looking now.”
“Ethan, don’t call your mother.”
“She’s already gone.”
Another pause.
“I found payments I couldn’t match to jobs.”
“How much?”
“Over the last eighteen months?”
Rachel hesitated.
“About a hundred and forty thousand.”
Ethan sat down.
“No.”
“I didn’t say she stole it.”
“You just said—”
“I said I couldn’t match it.”
He heard Lily fuss through the baby monitor.
Rachel heard it too.
Her voice broke slightly.
“How is she?”
“Okay.”
“Did Mom hurt her?”
Ethan swallowed.
“She scared her.”
Rachel didn’t answer.
Ethan closed the notebook.
“I should’ve listened to you.”
“Yes.”
No reassurance.
He deserved that.
Then Rachel said, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“I confronted your mom Tuesday.”
The night before Rachel left.
“What did she say?”
“She told me if I kept digging, she’d make sure you believed I was trying to take your company and your daughter.”
Ethan looked toward the front door Marlene had just walked through.
His marriage had not collapsed because his mother misunderstood an argument.
May you like
Rachel had challenged her.
And Marlene had promised consequences.
