Chapter 4
Daniel looked at the recording screen, then composed himself.
“What exactly do you think that proves?”
I closed my hand around the phone. “Give me the document you had me sign this afternoon.”
His eyes shifted away. “It belongs to the hospital—”
I cut him off. “Why would a hospital need a dead woman’s signature?”
He said nothing.
“Give me the original, and tomorrow morning we’ll contact the insurance company together to verify it. Otherwise, I’ll send them the photograph right now.”
Daniel only stared at me.
“You’re going to regret treating me this way,” he said in a low voice.
I didn’t tell him that what I wanted most was to run. Lily was still upstairs, and the car keys were in his pocket. I couldn’t let him see how frightened I was—not yet.
After half a minute, he turned and walked into the study.
He returned with the white envelope and tossed it onto the dining table.
I removed the documents and photographed every page.
I already made the mistake of trusting you once, I thought.
That night, I slept beside Lily with a chair wedged beneath the door handle. My mother came for her at first light.
Daniel stood on the porch as I put on my shoes.
“I thought we were going together.”
I didn’t look at him. “Give me the company’s phone number. I’ll verify it myself.”
He reached for the envelope.
I stepped back.
My mother’s car was still in the driveway. She was watching us through the windshield.
Daniel withdrew his hand.
At 9:50, I parked beside the cemetery office. The original documents were locked inside my car; I carried only photocopies in my bag. I had sent my mother my license plate number, location, and the time she should expect me to call.
A woman stood in front of my sister’s grave.
It wasn’t Evelyn, risen from the dead.
It was Claire—once my best friend, now my husband’s mistress.
“Where’s the original?” she demanded the moment she saw me.
I stopped at a distance and didn’t answer.
Instead, I asked, “Did you arrange last night’s phone call?”
“Give me the document first.” Claire ignored my question.
“Answer me first.” I refused to yield.
Claire reached for my bag.
I backed toward the road and raised my phone. “The cemetery office is right behind me. Touch me again, and I’ll scream.”
She stopped.
For the first time, there was no smile on her face.
“You never used to be like this.”
“I didn’t know you were wearing the earrings I gave you while you kissed my husband.” Even I was surprised by how calm I sounded.
Claire fell silent. After a moment, she lowered her head and took out a photograph.
A woman lay on a mortuary table with her face covered. Her right hand was exposed.
All five fingers were intact.
My sister had lost part of her right pinky in an accident when she was seventeen.
“This is the body Daniel identified three years ago,” Claire said.
I didn’t take the photo.
“It could be fake.”
Claire turned it over. The back bore a hospital reference number, a date, and Daniel’s signature acknowledging the body.
“You can verify it yourself.” She held the photograph out to me.
I looked at the headstone. “Who is she?”
Claire pulled out a wedding photograph.
Daniel had his arm around the woman.
“His first wife.”
Then Claire nodded toward my bag.
“Before she died, she signed a document just like yours.”