Chapter 3
On the tenth day of the cooling-off period, Sarah sat in a café, watching the traffic outside.
Her phone buzzed, it was a message from David. [Gotta work late tonight, won't be home for dinner.]
Sarah replied: [Okay.]
She set her phone aside and opened up her laptop.
On the screen was David's recent activity log.
In the past ten days, he'd said he was working late five times, had three business dinners, and went on two business trips.
But Sarah had checked his credit card statements.
Turns out, every time he claimed to be working late, he was actually eating at the same restaurant in the mall and the bill always covered two meals.
And those three so-called business meetups. He went to the same café every time, and each visit lasted over three hours.
As for those two business trips, his phone's location history showed he never even left the city.
Sarah saved everything and closed her laptop.
Mia slid into the seat across from her. "I found something."
"What is it?" Sarah asked.
"Vivian's been house hunting," Mia said, sliding her phone over. "I asked a friend to look into it, she's been talking to a bunch of real estate agents, and all the places she's checking out are in Riverside District."
"Riverside District?" Sarah took the phone. "Isn't that..."
"Yeah, that's the same complex David said he wants to buy in," Mia replied.
Sarah looked at the chat history on the screen.
Vivian: [I'm looking for a house around 1.3 million dollars.]
Agent: [Are you paying cash or taking out a loan?]
Vivian: [Paying cash.]
Agent: [Alright, let me show you a few places.]
"Buying a place for 1.3 million in cash?" Sarah looked up. "Where does she get that kind of money?"
"No idea," Mia said, settling into her seat. "But there's something really off about this whole thing."
"What?" Sarah pressed.
"Vivian only got back last year, and she's working as a translator at an international company and pulls in 6700 dollars a month." Mia said.
Mia said slowly, "Even if she managed to save up a bit while she was abroad, there's no way she could come up with 1.3 million dollars in only a year."
Sarah's fingers tightened around her phone. "Unless someone's giving it to her."
"Exactly," Mia said, locking eyes with her. "Sarah, you need to be ready for this."
"I know," Sarah replied.
Sarah stood up. "Let's go to Riverside District."
"Now?" Mia asked.
"Yeah,"
The two of them took a taxi to Riverside District.
The place was called Silvercrest Residences, a newly built complex, with units going for 390 dollars a square meter on average.
Sarah stood outside the sales office, staring at the model of the complex inside.
"Want to go in and take a look?" Mia asked.
"No need," Sarah said, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her call log.
One of the numbers David had been calling a lot lately was saved as "Manager Johnson."
She opened her browser and searched for "Silvercrest Residences + Manager Johnson."
Sure enough, the search results showed the contact info for the sales manager.
Name: Mark Johnson
Phone: 138XXXX5678
Sarah dialed the number.
"Hello, Silvercrest Residences sales office," a voice answered.
"Hey, can I ask, has David Miller booked a unit with you guys?" Sarah asked.
"May I ask who's calling?" the voice replied.
"I'm his wife," Sarah said, keeping her voice steady. "He's been checking out some places lately, and I want to see how things are progressing."
"Wait a moment," the voice said, pausing. "Are you Mrs. Bennett?"
"Yes," Sarah replied.
"Oh, Mr. Miller has been checking out some places here, but..." the voice trailed off.
"But what?" Sarah pressed.
Manager Johnson hesitated, then awkwardly admitted, "He said the house should be registered under another woman's name, a woman called Vivian Lane."
Sarah closed her eyes. "Alright, I see."
She hung up and stood there, not moving.
"Sarah?" Mia asked, worry written all over her face.
"I'm fine," Sarah said, opening her eyes. "Let's go home."
By the time she got home, it was already eight at night.
David still wasn't home.
Sarah settled onto the couch and fired up her laptop.
She logged into the router settings to check what devices were connected.
Aside from her and David's phones, there was a strange device showing up, marked as "Vivian's iPhone."
The device was online from 10 PM to 2 AM last night.
Sarah stared at the log.
Last night at 10, David said he was working late.
She pulled out her phone and opened the cloud storage.
Their phones shared a cloud album, so she scrolled through yesterday's photos.
David had taken a picture of a cup of coffee, and the location tag said it was at his office.
But in the reflection, you could clearly make out a girl's figure.
Sarah zoomed in on the photo.
The girl was wearing a white dress, her long hair falling over her shoulders, and she was smiling.
She kept scrolling and found an even older photo.
It was a picture of David and Vivian, taken a month ago.
They were down by the river, David had his arm casually around Vivian's shoulders.
Sarah saved the photos and closed her laptop.
The door opened.
David came in, reeking of booze.
"You've been drinking?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, had to entertain some clients," David said, kicking off his shoes. "I'm exhausted."
He headed for the bedroom, and Sarah followed him. "David."
"What's up?" David asked.
"I need to ask you something," Sarah said.
David turned around. "What is it?"
"Who is Vivian Lane?" Sarah asked.
David's expression shifted instantly.