Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN RICHARD'S LIBRARY
I did not move toward the door.
Not immediately.
I looked at Margaret.
“What did she just say?”
Margaret's lips parted.
Nothing came out.
The woman inside spoke again.
“Margaret?”
I held up the necklace.
“Who is she?”
“Claire, go home.”
“No.”
“This has nothing to do with your marriage.”
“Someone planted another woman's necklace in my husband's hotel room.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
That was enough.
I walked past her.
She caught my arm.
I pulled free.
“Touch me again and we're going to have a different problem.”
She stopped.
Good.
I reached the library door.
Locked.
Of course.
“Open it.”
Margaret did not.
I knocked once.
“Whoever you are, I'm Claire Bennett.”
Silence.
Then:
“I know.”
That bothered me more.
“Open the door.”
Margaret said:
“No.”
The lock clicked from inside.
The door opened three inches.
A woman stood beyond it.
Early forties.
Dark blond hair cut just above her shoulders.
Simple black sweater.
No shoes.
Like she had been living in that room long enough to get comfortable.
Her face did not mean anything to me.
At first.
Then she looked at Margaret.
Same eyes.
Not identical.
Close enough.
The woman opened the door wider.
Margaret whispered:
“Evelyn.”
I looked between them.
“Who is Evelyn?”
The woman answered.
“Evelyn Shaw.”
“Why are you in my husband's mother's house?”
She almost smiled at the construction of that sentence.
Then saw I was not joking.
“I was invited.”
“By Daniel?”
“No.”
“By her?”
Evelyn looked at Margaret.
“Yes.”
I held up the necklace.
“Yours?”
She looked at it.
“Yes.”
There.
My stomach dropped even though I already knew.
“You were in Daniel's hotel room.”
“Yes.”
Margaret cut in.
“Claire—”
“Quiet.”
She stared.
I turned back to Evelyn.
“Did you sleep with my husband?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Did he kiss you?”
“No.”
“Did he know you left this?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Margaret stepped toward her.
“Evelyn.”
I saw it.
The warning.
Evelyn saw me see it.
“No.”
She said finally.
“No, Daniel did not know I left the necklace.”
I looked at Margaret.
“So you planted it.”
Margaret said nothing.
Evelyn did.
“She asked me to.”
My hands started shaking.
Not from heartbreak now.
Rage.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked uncomfortable.
“She said you and Daniel were already separating.”
“We are not.”
Margaret spoke sharply.
“You've been staying in Manhattan for weeks.”
“That is called having another apartment.”
“You've discussed divorce.”
I froze.
Evelyn looked at me.
I looked at Margaret.
“How do you know that?”
She said nothing.
I had mentioned divorce once.
To my sister.
On the phone.
From our kitchen.
Daniel was not home.
At least I thought he wasn't.
Then Evelyn said:
“Margaret told me you were trying to take Daniel away from the family and force the sale of this house.”
I laughed.
“That's what she told you?”
“She said if you believed Daniel had someone else, you would leave long enough for Daniel to make his own decisions.”
I stared at her.
“And you agreed?”
Evelyn looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her jaw tightened.
“Because Margaret said if I did this one thing, Daniel would finally meet me without you there.”
I stopped.
“Meet you.”
“Yes.”
“Why would you need Margaret's permission to meet Daniel?”
Evelyn looked at her.
Then back at me.
“Because he's my brother.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
I stared at Margaret.
“No.”
Margaret looked away.
Evelyn continued.
“Half-brother.”
I looked at her face again.
The eyes.
The mouth.
The shape of her hands.
Something Bennett.
Or maybe I wanted to see it now that someone had said the word.
“Daniel does not have a sister.”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“That's what she told him?”
I looked at Margaret.
“What did you tell Daniel?”
Margaret finally answered.
“That my first child died.”
Evelyn went completely still.
Whatever agreement existed between the two women broke in that second.
She stared at Margaret.
“You told him I was dead?”
Margaret's face hardened.
“It was complicated.”
Evelyn laughed once.
It sounded almost like a choke.
“You told me he knew about me.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
Evelyn turned toward me.
“She said Daniel knew he had a sister. She said he was afraid you would make it into a legal fight over the house.”
Margaret snapped:
“That is not what I said.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I said Daniel knew there were family matters he didn't understand.”
“That is not the same thing.”
No.
It wasn't.
I had walked into the mansion thinking Daniel was sleeping with another woman.
Twenty minutes later I was standing between a mother and a daughter who had apparently been told different versions of the same family for almost forty years.
Then my phone vibrated.
Daniel.
I stared at his name.
Margaret immediately said:
“Do not tell him yet.”
May you like
That settled it.
I answered.
