SHE SPRAYED THE WRONG WOMAN

Nora answered on the first ring.

“Tell me you haven’t signed anything today,” she said.

“I’ve signed a dry-cleaning receipt.”

“This isn’t funny, Helen.”

“I know. What happened?”

“I got an automated notice from the title company. A property transfer was added to tomorrow’s closing packet. It carries your signature.”

“What property?”

There was a pause.

“The Belle Meade house.”

I looked through the window at the chandeliers hanging from the oak trees. Ethan had bought the estate with a mortgage, but the adjoining parcel belonged to me. I had let him use its garden for the party. Together, the land and house made up the property Vanessa kept calling hers.

“Who’s receiving it?” I asked.

“An LLC called Willow Gate Holdings.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Nobody’s recorded the transfer yet,” Nora said. “I’m trying to reach the title company. Don’t let anyone take your phone or any documents.”

Ethan watched my face. When I hung up, I told him.

He pulled out a chair and sat heavily. “I don’t understand. I asked the title company about adding Vanessa to the deed after we got married, but I didn’t submit anything.”

“Who knew about that conversation?”

“Vanessa. George. Maybe Patricia.”

There was a knock. Officer Reed stood in the doorway with my ring accuser behind her.

“Miss Mitchell says she doesn’t want to pursue the theft report,” Reed said. “The server has given a different account. I’ll document both. Mrs. Carter, would you like to report the incident with the hose?”

“Yes,” I said.

Ethan looked at me. I could see the question in his eyes: Was I really going to make a police report at his engagement party?

“Yes,” I repeated.

Reed took my statement and copied the video. She did not promise an arrest. She explained what she could document and gave me a case number.

When she left, Ethan brought me a towel and a cup of tea. His suit jacket was still around my shoulders.

“You should have told me you were coming,” he said.

“If I had, Vanessa would have known who I was.”

“You could have been hurt.”

“I was. And I’m sorry you had to see it.”

He sat across from me. “What made you suspicious of her?”

I told him about a waiter at a restaurant three weeks earlier. Vanessa had sent back a meal because a garnish touched her steak. When the waiter apologized, she had said, “People like you always need to be told twice.” Ethan had been taking a call outside.

“I asked her about it afterward,” I said. “She told me I’d misunderstood.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I did. You believed her.”

He looked down at his tea.

A door slammed upstairs. Vanessa had gone to her room. A minute later, Patricia came into the kitchen carrying a garment bag.

“Helen,” she said, “this has gotten out of hand.”

“Your daughter accused me of stealing her ring.”

“She was upset.”

“She told a waiter he’d lose his job for helping me.”

Patricia’s smile stayed in place, but her eyes shifted to Ethan. “You’ve had a shock. Let’s all talk tomorrow.”

“We can talk now,” he said. “What closing did you ask George to move?”

Patricia stopped smiling.