Chapter 2 - THE MAN ON MY PORCH
I stared at the photograph until the edges blurred.
Andrew was unmistakable.
Same dark hair.
Same gray T-shirt.
Same expensive watch I had given him for our anniversary.
His hand was around the waist of a blonde woman I had never seen before.
They were standing on the back porch of our cottage.
My cottage.
The one my grandmother’s money had helped purchase.
Lorraine came up behind me.
“What is that?”
I turned the photo facedown.
“Nothing.”
Her eyes darted toward it.
“Let me see.”
“No.”
“Claire—”
The doorbell rang.
Lorraine jumped.
I opened the door.
A man in his mid-forties stood on the porch.
Gray jacket.
Tired face.
Brown envelope under one arm.
“Claire Morgan?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Daniel Ross.”
He glanced toward Lorraine.
“Can we talk privately?”
“No,” Lorraine said immediately.
Daniel looked at me.
“That’s probably a good sign that we should.”
I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.
Daniel handed me the envelope.
“My wife’s name is Melissa.”
I said nothing.
“She’s been sleeping with your husband for eleven months.”
My stomach tightened, but I forced my breathing to slow.
“How do you know?”
“Because I hired a private investigator.”
He pulled out more photographs.
Andrew and Melissa at a hotel.
Andrew touching her face outside a restaurant.
Melissa climbing into his car.
Andrew at our cottage.
Then one image that made my chest ache.
Melissa was wearing my blue robe.
The robe Andrew had bought me on our fifth anniversary.
Daniel watched my face.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
I swallowed.
“You didn’t betray me.”
He nodded slowly.
“There’s more.”
He removed several photocopied pages.
Bank transfers.
Mortgage documents.
A draft property agreement.
I read them twice.
“What is this?”
“I don’t know everything.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“But Melissa told her sister that Andrew was planning to ‘free up the house’ after the divorce.”
A chill crawled over my skin.
“What does that mean?”
“I was hoping you knew.”
I flipped through the pages.
Then I saw my signature.
Except I had never signed the document.
My breathing stopped.
Someone had copied my name onto a loan application using our house as collateral.
“Where did you get this?”
“My investigator found it in a file Melissa threw away at her office.”
I stared through the front window.
Lorraine was watching us.
The second she realized I had seen the documents, she stepped away.
Too quickly.
Daniel noticed.
“Does she know?”
“I think she knows something.”
A car turned onto our street.
Daniel looked toward it.
Andrew.
He pulled into the driveway fast.
Lorraine rushed outside before he had even shut off the engine.
“Andrew!”
He barely looked at her.
His eyes were locked on the photographs in my hands.
“Claire.”
I held up the picture of him kissing Melissa.
He stopped walking.
Daniel stepped beside me.
Andrew’s face drained of color.
“What the hell is he doing here?”
Daniel laughed once.
“That’s your first question?”
Andrew looked at me.
“Claire, I can explain.”
“Wonderful.”
I held up the forged loan application.
“Start with this.”
He stared at the paper.
Then he looked at Lorraine.
It happened for less than a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Recognition.
May you like
And Lorraine whispered,
“You said she would never find that.”
