Chapter 6 - What David Knew
David followed Jessica into the hallway.
"Jess."
She kept walking.
"Jessica."
She stopped outside Chloe's room.
"Do not raise your voice near her."
"I'm not."
"You are."
He lowered it.
"I didn't know about your grandmother."
Jessica stared at him.
"Tell me what you did know."
"Not here."
"This is the only place you're getting the opportunity."
He looked past her.
The hallway was empty.
"I knew there was an old challenge to the Hawthorne title."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Jessica felt the number like a physical blow.
Three years.
"So before you moved my retirement savings."
David closed his eyes.
"It wasn't like that."
"Everything is exactly like it is."
"The project needed short-term liquidity."
"And your mother asked you."
"Yes."
"And instead of telling your wife the project had a title dispute, you transferred our money."
"I planned to replace it."
"From what?"
"The consulting fee."
Jessica almost laughed.
"You stole from me to invest in your mother's project, then planned to repay me with money your mother's project paid you."
"I didn't steal."
"You forged authorization."
His face hardened.
"I never forged your signature."
"Then who did?"
That stopped him.
Jessica watched.
David looked genuinely surprised.
"I submitted electronic approval."
"My electronic approval requires biometric confirmation for transfers above one hundred thousand dollars."
He said nothing.
Jessica stepped closer.
"Who confirmed it?"
"I don't know."
"David."
"I swear."
"You expect me to believe two hundred eighty thousand dollars left our account and you don't know how?"
"I thought the bank processed my authorization."
Jessica stared at him.
Then she understood something.
David was guilty.
But perhaps not guilty of everything.
"Who handled the bank relationship?"
He hesitated.
"Victoria."
Of course.
Jessica turned toward the guest room.
David touched her arm.
She looked down.
He removed his hand.
"I made mistakes."
"Mistakes?"
"I should have told you."
"You should have protected Chloe."
His face collapsed slightly.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
Jessica's voice remained quiet.
"When Victoria raised her hand, you had time."
"I froze."
"You watched."
"I didn't think she'd actually hit her."
"After she hit her, you had another chance."
He looked away.
Jessica felt something inside her finally break cleanly.
Not painfully.
Cleanly.
For seven years, she had been waiting for David to become the man he claimed he wanted to be.
Tonight she stopped waiting.
"I want you out of the apartment when Chloe and I return."
His head snapped up.
"Jessica."
"Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Before we return."
"We need to talk."
"We are talking."
"You're ending our marriage because I handled one moment badly?"
Jessica stared at him.
"No."
She opened Chloe's bedroom door slightly and looked at her sleeping daughter.
"I'm ending it because one moment showed me what every other moment meant."
David said nothing.
Jessica closed the door.
When they returned to the living room, Sloan had received new information.
A forensic analyst had found something in the initial corporate disclosures.
Sentinel Redevelopment Partners had made a payment seventeen months earlier.
One point eight million dollars.
Recipient:
Carter Resolution Services.
Jessica had never heard of the company.
Neither had David.
Richard looked ill.
Margaret refused to speak.
Sloan turned her laptop toward Jessica.
The company had been incorporated in Delaware.
Its managing member was listed as:
Thomas Carter.
Jessica stopped breathing.
Her father's name.
Thomas Carter had disappeared when Jessica was twelve years old.
The Army had officially listed him as missing during private contracting work in Eastern Europe.
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Jessica had spent twenty-three years believing he was dead.
The company bearing his name had received nearly two million dollars last year.
