Chapter 4 - The Night Emily Left
Emily packed one suitcase.
Daniel did not ask her to leave.
That almost made it worse.
He stood in the bedroom doorway while she folded maternity clothes with shaking hands.
“You don’t have to go.”
“I think I do.”
“You’re eight months pregnant.”
“I’m aware.”
“Emily.”
She stopped folding.
“What do you want me to do, Daniel?”
He had no answer.
She looked at him.
“Stay here while you wonder if our entire marriage started as part of someone else’s plan?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You asked if Thomas sent me.”
“I was angry.”
“You were scared.”
Daniel looked down.
“So am I.”
Emily closed the suitcase.
“I’ll stay with Rachel.”
Her best friend lived twenty minutes away.
Daniel nodded reluctantly.
“I’ll drive you.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“I need one decision today that belongs to me.”
That silenced him.
She picked up the suitcase.
Daniel immediately took it from her.
Even furious, he would not let his pregnant wife carry anything heavy.
The gesture nearly broke her.
At the front door, he said, “I love you.”
Emily closed her eyes.
“I love you too.”
“But?”
She looked at him.
“But love doesn’t erase what I hid.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“No.”
“And anger doesn’t erase what Victoria did.”
“No.”
“Then we both need to figure out which problem we’re actually fighting.”
She left.
Rachel opened her apartment door ten minutes after Emily called.
She took one look at Emily and stepped aside.
“No questions tonight?”
Emily whispered.
Rachel nodded.
“No questions.”
Then she saw the suitcase.
“Maybe one.”
Emily laughed through tears.
That night, she barely slept.
At two in the morning, the baby began moving violently.
Emily sat on the sofa with one hand on her belly.
“Your father loves you,” she whispered.
The movement continued.
“And he loves me.”
She wished love were the difficult part.
It was not.
Trust was.
At 4:17 a.m., her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
Then a message arrived.
YOU SHOULD HAVE OPENED THE ENVELOPE.
Emily sat upright.
Another message appeared.
THOMAS DID NOT DIE FROM HEART FAILURE.
Her hands went cold.
A third message.
ASK VICTORIA WHERE SHE WAS THE NIGHT HE DIED.
Emily stared at the screen.
Rachel entered from the hallway.
“What happened?”
Emily handed her the phone.
Rachel read the messages.
“Call Daniel.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“If someone wants me frightened, calling Daniel immediately tells them it worked.”
Rachel looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
“You are pregnant, separated from your husband for approximately six hours, and receiving murder texts.”
“They didn’t say murder.”
“They strongly implied murder.”
Emily stood carefully.
“I need the envelope.”
“At four in the morning?”
“Yes.”
Rachel crossed her arms.
“No.”
“Rachel.”
“You can go when the sun is up and I am driving.”
Emily knew better than to argue.
At seven thirty, they were on the road to Vermont.
Emily’s mother, Carol, lived in a small blue house surrounded by maple trees.
She opened the door before they reached the porch.
One look at Emily’s face and she said, “What happened?”
Emily hugged her.
“Is Dad’s metal box still in the attic?”
Carol’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
“Did anyone ask about it recently?”
Her mother became very still.
“Why?”
“Mom.”
Carol stepped inside and closed the door.
“Two weeks ago, a woman came here.”
Emily felt a chill.
“What woman?”
“She said she worked with Daniel.”
“Did she give a name?”
“No.”
“What did she want?”
“She asked whether you had left any documents here before the wedding.”
Rachel whispered, “Victoria.”
Carol shook her head.
“It wasn’t Victoria.”
Emily stared at her.
“You know Victoria.”
“I’ve met her twice. This woman was younger. Blonde.”
“Did you let her inside?”
“Of course not.”
Emily hurried upstairs.
The attic smelled of cedar and dust.
Her father’s metal box was behind an old trunk.
The small brass lock was untouched.
Emily carried it downstairs.
The key hung on a chain in her mother’s bedroom.
She opened the box at the kitchen table.
Inside were tax papers.
Her father’s watch.
Old photographs.
And the envelope.
Still sealed.
Thomas Vale’s handwriting was on the front.
FOR DANIEL CARTER ONLY.
Emily stopped.
Rachel leaned closer.
“You never noticed that?”
“It didn’t say that before.”
Carol looked confused.
“What?”
Emily touched the ink.
May you like
The envelope she remembered had been blank.
Someone had replaced it.
