Chapter 6 - LAUREN BREAKS FIRST
Three days later, Lauren called me.
I almost didn’t answer.
Then Claire reminded me that frightened people sometimes reveal what loyal people hide.
Lauren sounded like she had been crying.
“Rachel, can we meet?”
“No.”
“Please.”
“You had eighteen months to speak to me.”
“I know.”
“You watched your brother build another life.”
“I know.”
“You traveled to the airport with them.”
“I know.”
“Then say whatever you need to say now.”
She went silent.
Finally she whispered,
“Dad knew about the money.”
I sat straighter.
“What money?”
“Your inheritance.”
I began recording.
“Keep talking.”
“Daniel told Dad you agreed to invest it.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew about Bennett Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“How much of my money did you take?”
“I didn’t take anything.”
“You own thirty percent through an LLC.”
Silence.
Lauren had not expected me to know that.
“Rachel—”
“How much?”
“I never received cash.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
She started crying.
Normally, I would have comforted her.
I didn’t.
“Dad created the structure.”
“Why?”
“He said it was tax planning.”
“For whose taxes?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lauren.”
“I swear.”
Her voice shook.
“Daniel said you knew.”
That sentence again.
Daniel had apparently built his entire criminal-looking financial structure around four words.
Rachel knows about it.
“Why did you believe him?”
“He was my brother.”
“And I was your sister-in-law.”
“I know.”
“No.”
My voice remained quiet.
“You knew me for twelve years.”
“You knew how I treated him.”
“You knew I spent weekends helping your father’s foundation.”
“You knew I cared for your children when you had surgery.”
“And when Daniel introduced you to Vanessa, you decided asking me one question was too inconvenient.”
Lauren started sobbing.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t answer my question.”
“What question?”
“How much money?”
She took a breath.
“About seven hundred thousand.”
I closed my eyes.
More than Marcus had confirmed.
“Where is it?”
“Some went into the property.”
“And the rest?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Dad.”
Richard.
Of course.
Then Lauren said something that changed the case.
“There’s another account.”
My eyes opened.
“Where?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“What do you know?”
“It’s overseas.”
I stood.
“How do you know?”
“I heard Dad and Daniel arguing.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“What did they say?”
“Daniel wanted money transferred before the divorce.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What divorce?”
“Yours.”
Daniel hadn’t simply imagined divorcing me.
He had been preparing financially.
“What else?”
“Dad told him moving too much at once would look suspicious.”
There it was.
Intent.
Not confusion.
Not investment.
Preparation.
“Lauren, why are you telling me this now?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then she said,
“Because Daniel blamed Dad.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
I almost laughed.
Of course he had.
“And Dad blamed Daniel.”
She paused.
“They’re turning on each other.”
That was useful.
Very useful.
“Rachel?”
“Yes?”
“There’s something else.”
I waited.
“Daniel didn’t meet Vanessa eighteen months ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“What do you mean?”
“I think they knew each other before that.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“But I saw her at Dad’s house almost three years ago.”
Three years.
I gripped the edge of the table.
“What was she doing there?”
“Daniel said she was consulting for the foundation.”
“Was she?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Lauren whispered,
“But I remember something now.”
“What?”
“You were out of town that weekend.”
The affair had not merely lasted eighteen months.
May you like
It might have lasted years.
And suddenly I wondered whether Vanessa had been lied to about that too.
