Or at least I thought we did.
Inside the bag, I found legal documents, a laptop, charging cables, and a notebook filled with meeting notes.
Then I checked a narrow side pocket.
There was a silver key attached to a white plastic label.
Apartment 4C.
Beside it was a receipt from a furniture store in East Bellwynn.
The order included a queen-size bed, bedside tables, a sofa, a dining set, and a child’s desk.
The delivery address was 18 Willowmere Lane, Apartment 4C.
The purchase had been made using a card I did not recognize.
I photographed the key and receipt, then returned them exactly as I found them.
After that, I opened our financial accounts.
The house fund showed almost the amount I expected.
For one brief moment, relief moved through me.
Then I examined the transactions.
Every month, Nathan deposited money.
A few days later, smaller amounts disappeared under the description FAMILY ASSET MANAGEMENT.
The withdrawals totaled eighty-two thousand dollars.
I tried to access the family trust.
A message appeared instructing me to contact the primary administrator.
Nathan.
I sat in the dark until nearly four in the morning.
At breakfast, he asked why I looked tired.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Work?”
“Something like that.”
He reached across the table and covered my hand.
“We should take a weekend away.”
The tenderness nearly broke me.
“When?”
“Soon.”
“Just the two of us?”
He hesitated.
“Maybe Sophie could stay with Mom.”
I slowly pulled my hand away.
“Maybe.”
The next afternoon, I drove to Willowmere Lane.
Number 18 was a recently renovated apartment building near the river, surrounded by expensive cafés, boutiques, and young trees that had not yet grown large enough to cast much shade.
Apartment 4C was on the fourth floor.
I could have used the key.
Instead, I parked across the street and waited.
At five thirty-eight, a blue sedan stopped near the entrance.
Rachel stepped out.
I recognized her from old photographs.
She was forty-two now, with shoulder-length blond hair and a graceful, serious face. She wore a cream coat and carried two grocery bags.
