Chapter 7 - The Pattern Hidden in the Calendar
Colleen did not confront Brett immediately.
She went back through her own text messages.
Brett had asked her to stay at the Naperville house three times in the past seven months.
February.
May.
August.
Each request overlapped with a business trip.
Each time Brett had used some variation of the same explanation.
Dana hates being alone in that big house.
But Colleen remembered February differently now.
Dana had barely spoken to her for two days.
In May, Dana had repeatedly asked when Colleen was leaving.
And in August, three days before the assault, Dana had said, “He always sends you when he doesn’t want to deal with me.”
At the time Colleen had assumed Dana was being cruel.
Maybe Dana had been telling the truth.
Colleen called Harbor Point.
The receptionist would not disclose anything about Brett’s treatment.
Of course she wouldn’t.
That refusal reassured Colleen more than a careless answer would have.
She called Brett instead.
“Why did you ask me to stay with Dana?”
Silence.
“Brett?”
“I told you.”
“No. You gave me an excuse. I want the reason.”
“I thought she’d be calmer if someone else was there.”
Colleen closed her eyes.
There it was.
Not the whole truth.
But enough to hurt.
“You used me as a buffer.”
“No.”
“You thought she wouldn’t explode if your mother was in the house.”
“I thought having company would help.”
“Those are the same thing with better manners.”
Brett’s voice cracked. “Mom, I was trying to get through the trip.”
“And I was what? Furniture?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
He couldn’t answer.
Colleen ended the call.
Later that day, Brett’s accountant finally traced the missing transfers.
They were going to a checking account Dana had opened under her own name.
From there, the money had been used mostly for ordinary expenses.
Hotel rooms.
Short-term rentals.
Storage fees.
Restaurant charges.
Not luxury shopping.
Not gambling.
Not another man.
Dana had been quietly building a separate life.
And one storage facility in Aurora had been charging her every month since March.
Brett stared at the statement.
May you like
He had been terrified Dana would empty their house.
Now he wondered whether she had been preparing to leave it.
