“No, you don’t. She walked up to me at my son’s funeral, handed me something that blew apart everything I knew about my husband, and disappeared.”
“I’m very sorry.”
I closed my eyes. “Just tell her I need to speak to her.”
“I can do that.”
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I hung up.
I can pass along a request for contact.
***
By evening, everything seemed obvious.
Daniel had betrayed me.
Lily was the proof. Rebecca had spent eighteen years helping him hide it.
I was certain I finally understood what had happened.
I wasn’t even close.
Daniel had betrayed me.
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***
The next morning, I pulled Daniel’s old files out of the closet.
If Rebecca wouldn’t talk, Daniel would.
Or whatever he had left behind would.
- Tax returns.
- Insurance policies.
- Old business statements.
- Receipts I couldn’t believe we had kept.
I found nothing with Rebecca’s name.
If Rebecca wouldn’t talk, Daniel would.
That almost made it worse. For eighteen years, Daniel had kept her separate from our life.
But I had seen Lily’s name before.
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Then I remembered.
The will.
“Jesus.”
I pulled it from the back of the filing cabinet.
That almost made it worse.
Daniel had changed it six months before he died. Most of it was exactly as I remembered.
- Me.
- Ethan.
Then, near the bottom, there it was.
- Lily.
A separate amount had been left in trust for her.
The will.
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I remembered asking about it after Daniel died.
I also remembered the answer.
His mother.
I called her.
She answered on the third ring. “Laura?”
A separate amount had been left in trust for her.
“Who was Lily?”
Silence.
“Daniel’s will. You told me she was a relative.”
“A cousin, I think.”
“You think?”
I also remembered the answer.
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“It was four years ago.”
“What was her last name?”
“I don’t remember.”
“But you were certain enough to tell me she was Daniel’s cousin.”
She sighed. “What is this about?”
You told me she was a relative.
“Ethan found eighteen years of payments to Lily’s mother.”
Another silence.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“But you know something.”
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You were certain enough to tell me?
“Laura, I don’t want to do this over the phone.”
“Then tell me who Lily was.”
“I don’t know. But there was someone Daniel knew when he was young.”
“Who?”
“A friend. Michael.”
The name stirred something in my memory. Daniel had mentioned him, rarely and never fondly.
I don’t want to do this over the phone.
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“He stole from Daniel.”
She went quiet.
“Didn’t he?”
“I don’t know what happened between them.”
Whatever she knew about Michael, she had been keeping it from me for a reason.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
