Chapter 5 - Suzanne Reached for the Wrong Bag
Suzanne recovered before Derek did.
She stepped toward the boxes with a sharp little laugh. “This is ridiculous. Those handbags are marital property.”
Skylar looked at her. “Name one you paid for.”
Suzanne’s face hardened. “Derek said—”
“Derek said a lot of things.”
One of the officers shifted slightly, not threatening, just present. Suzanne stopped moving.
Skylar took a blue leather handbag from the shelf and placed it into a box with the others. The grandmother’s jewelry followed. Then the external hard drives, her work laptop, the apartment closing documents, tax records, medical folder, passport, and the blue dinnerware Derek loved to call theirs because he had eaten off it for four years.
Derek watched each item disappear into boxes as though Skylar were removing pieces of his identity.
“You’re really going to destroy our marriage over coffee?”
Skylar turned to him slowly.
“No. You threw boiling coffee at my face because I would not give your sister a bank card. The marriage was already destroyed. I’m just documenting the cause.”
Suzanne’s phone buzzed. She glanced down, and the color drained from her face.
Skylar noticed.
“What happened?”
Suzanne covered the screen. “Nothing.”
Derek looked at her. “Suzanne.”
She lowered her voice. “The bank froze the card I used for the salon deposit.”
Skylar’s stomach went still.
“What card?”
Suzanne’s eyes flicked toward Derek, and that small glance told Skylar everything she needed to know. The suspicious transactions had not been random attempts. They had been tests. Derek had given his sister access before Skylar ever refused.
Derek spoke too quickly. “It was an emergency.”
May you like
Skylar picked up the bank notice from the folder and held it where the officers could see the header.
“Then we should add theft to the report.”
