Chapter 4 - APARTMENT 6B
Sarah did not go alone.
Chloe insisted on coming.
Apartment 6B was on the sixth floor of a modern building overlooking the river.
They stood outside the door for several seconds.
Sarah knocked.
A woman in her late thirties opened it.
Blonde hair.
Expensive clothes.
Gold bracelet.
Sarah recognized the bracelet immediately.
She had seen the receipt inside the box.
Vanessa Cole looked politely confused.
“Yes?”
Sarah held up her phone.
“Are you Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Sarah Harper.”
Vanessa's expression collapsed.
That was enough.
Sarah knew.
Vanessa stepped backward.
“You should come inside.”
The apartment looked professionally furnished.
Everything appeared new.
Sarah noticed a framed photograph on the bookshelf.
Daniel and Vanessa at a vineyard.
His arm around her waist.
Chloe saw it too.
“How long?” Sarah asked.
Vanessa looked at Chloe.
Sarah repeated,
“How long?”
“Three years.”
Chloe turned away.
Sarah remained strangely calm.
“Does Daniel live here?”
“Sometimes.”
“Does he pay for this apartment?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Does he buy you jewelry?”
Vanessa's face flushed.
“Yes.”
Sarah took out the photograph of Rachel's transfer records.
“Do you know where his money comes from?”
Vanessa frowned.
“He owns an investment company.”
“No, he doesn't.”
Vanessa looked genuinely confused.
“He told me he sold his consulting partnership.”
“He told us the consulting business collapsed.”
Neither woman spoke.
Then Vanessa walked toward a cabinet.
She removed a folder.
“I don't know what is happening,” she said, “but six months ago Daniel started talking about leaving.”
Sarah felt something cold settle in her chest.
“Leaving whom?”
“You.”
Chloe turned around.
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“He said the divorce was almost finished.”
“There is no divorce.”
Vanessa sat down.
“He said you knew about us.”
Sarah nearly laughed.
Instead she asked,
“When was he planning to leave?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“After the house was sold.”
Sarah froze.
“Our house isn't for sale.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“He said it would be by October.”
October was three weeks away.
Vanessa opened the folder.
Inside were property listings.
Passport copies.
And a printed itinerary.
Two one-way tickets.
Daniel Harper.
Vanessa Cole.
Destination: Lisbon.
Departure date: October 14.
Chloe whispered,
“He's leaving the country.”
But Sarah noticed something else.
The ticket had been purchased eight weeks earlier.
During the same week Daniel told Chloe she could not return to college.
Vanessa looked toward the itinerary.
“There was supposed to be more money.”
“What do you mean?”
“Daniel said Evelyn was finishing the transfer.”
Sarah remembered the third envelope.
EVELYN BROOKS.
“Who is Evelyn?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I've never met her.”
“What did Daniel say?”
“That she handled the part he couldn't put through a bank.”
Sarah and Chloe looked at each other.
The money under the tree suddenly seemed much less important.
May you like
Whatever Daniel was hiding—
the box was only one piece of it.
