Chapter 4 - The Payments Claire Had Already Seen
Claire still had the financial records from her divorce.
Her attorney had advised her to keep them for at least several years, especially because Mike and Claire still shared expenses related to Daniel.
She opened the box Saturday morning.
The old checking statements were painfully familiar.
Mortgage.
Utilities.
Soccer fees.
Groceries.
Then she found the recurring checks.
Every month, between $900 and $1,300 had gone from Mike’s personal checking account to Erica Dalton.
The first payment appeared seven years earlier.
Claire remembered asking him about the withdrawals.
Mike had told her they were repayment on money he borrowed for a failed investment with a friend.
She had believed him.
Not immediately.
Naya had helped.
Claire could still remember sitting at their mother’s kitchen island one Thanksgiving, complaining about Mike’s secrecy.
Naya had rolled her eyes.
“You interrogate him about everything. No wonder he stops explaining.”
Claire had gone home embarrassed.
That was one of dozens of moments when she had treated her own suspicion as the problem.
Then she found something else.
A check from three years earlier was not written by Mike.
It came from a joint savings account Claire and Mike had used for emergencies.
$4,800.
Payable to Erica Dalton.
Claire recognized the month.
Mike had told her the furnace needed replacement parts.
The repair had actually cost less than $700.
Claire took photographs of the records.
Then she called Mike.
He did not deny it.
Lily had needed dental surgery.
Mike had been short that month.
“You used our emergency savings?”
“I put it back.”
“That isn’t the point.”
“I know.”
“Did Naya know?”
Mike went silent.
Claire closed her eyes.
“How long has she known about Lily?”
“Talk to Naya.”
“No. I’m talking to you.”
Mike lowered his voice.
“Longer than I told you yesterday.”
Claire felt anger settle into something colder.
“How much longer?”
He refused to answer.
That evening Claire received a Facebook message from someone she did not know.
My name is Erica Dalton. I think we should talk without Mike or Naya in the room.
Claire stared at the message.
Then another appeared.
I’m not his second wife. I’m not his girlfriend. And I think you deserve the actual timeline.
May you like
Claire replied before she could talk herself out of it.
Tomorrow.
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