Chapter 4 - Catherine's Warning
Valeria had never met Catherine.
Damian's first wife had died in a car accident nearly five years before Valeria entered his life.
According to Damian, Catherine had been brilliant, impulsive, and deeply unhappy.
He rarely spoke badly about her.
That had once seemed respectful.
Now Valeria wondered whether silence had been more useful.
She photographed the note.
Then she returned everything exactly as she had found it.
At work, she called Catherine's sister.
Laura Benton lived in Oregon.
Valeria had met her twice.
Both times Damian had stayed unusually close during the conversations.
Laura answered on the fifth ring.
"Valeria?"
"Hi."
"Is Beatrice okay?"
The question came instantly.
Valeria froze.
"Why would you ask that?"
Silence.
"Laura."
Another pause.
"Where is Damian?"
"At work."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Is Beatrice with you?"
"At school."
Laura exhaled.
"What happened?"
Valeria told her about Elliot.
Not everything.
Enough.
Then she mentioned Catherine's photograph.
Laura began crying.
Valeria stood from her desk and closed the office door.
"What did Catherine mean?"
Laura took several seconds to answer.
"She was going to leave him."
Valeria closed her eyes.
"Why?"
"Control. Money. Threats."
"Did he hit her?"
"I don't know."
"Laura."
"I truly don't know. Catherine never said he hit her."
That sounded horribly familiar.
Valeria sat down.
"What did she say?"
"That Damian always knew where to stop."
A chill moved across Valeria's shoulders.
Laura continued.
"He would take her phone. Lock doors. Keep her awake during arguments. Tell her she was unstable. Then he'd apologize and buy something expensive."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Beatrice."
Valeria understood.
"He threatened access."
"After Catherine died, Damian controlled everything. I was terrified he would stop letting me see my niece."
"Did he?"
"For almost a year."
Valeria pressed her fingers against her forehead.
"Did Catherine ever say anything about Beatrice?"
"Not before she died. Beatrice was only five."
Laura went quiet.
Then she said, "There is something else."
Valeria's pulse accelerated.
"What?"
"Catherine made recordings."
"Of Damian?"
"Yes."
"Where are they?"
"I don't know."
"Did police know?"
"I don't think Catherine ever filed anything."
"Why mention recordings?"
"Because two weeks before she died, she called me and said, If anything happens, the truth is still in the house."
Valeria stared through the glass wall of her office.
The house.
The same house Damian now called his own.
"Laura, was Catherine living in my house?"
"No. Damian sold their house after she died."
"Then the recordings are gone."
"Maybe."
Something in Laura's voice stopped her.
"What aren't you saying?"
"The week after Catherine's funeral, Damian moved three boxes from their old house into storage."
"Whose storage?"
"His."
Valeria knew exactly which storage facility.
Damian kept wine and old furniture in a private unit downtown.
She drove there after work.
The manager recognized her.
Damian had added Valeria to the account after their wedding.
Unit 318 contained furniture, framed artwork, several suitcases, and cardboard boxes.
Valeria searched for almost an hour.
Then she found a plastic container labeled BEATRICE BABY CLOTHES.
Inside were clothes.
Beneath them was an old tablet.
The battery was dead.
Valeria took it.
At home, she hid it in her office.
She did not tell Damian she had visited storage.
That evening he was unusually affectionate.
He ordered dinner from her favorite restaurant.
He poured wine.
He apologized for the trust document.
"I pushed too hard."
Valeria watched him.
"Why?"
"Because I'm trying to protect our future."
"Whose future?"
"Ours."
He smiled.
She once loved that smile.
Now it frightened her.
Damian reached across the table.
"I'll destroy the amendment."
"Good."
"We can forget it."
"No."
His fingers paused.
"No?"
"I said destroy it. I didn't say forget it."
Damian's eyes sharpened.
Valeria smiled slightly.
"I think forgetting things is how families get into trouble."
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Damian smiled again.
"Fair enough."
Later that night, Valeria connected the old tablet to a charger.
Nothing happened.
She left it charging.
At midnight, the screen flickered.
A passcode appeared.
Valeria tried Beatrice's birthday.
Wrong.
Catherine's birthday.
Wrong.
Damian's birthday.
Wrong.
Then she remembered the words written on the photograph.
ASK WHAT HE DID.
Four words.
Maybe not a warning.
Maybe an instruction.
Valeria typed the date from the back of the photograph.
The tablet unlocked.
There were eleven audio files.
The first was titled D MAY 14.
Valeria put on headphones.
Catherine's voice came through first.
Calm but trembling.
"Damian, move away from the door."
Then Damian answered.
Five years younger.
Exactly the same tone.
"No."
Valeria stopped breathing.
She listened.
And by the third recording, she understood why Catherine had been afraid.
By the seventh, she understood why Beatrice was afraid.
But the final recording contained something Valeria never expected.
A child's voice.
Beatrice.
May you like
At five years old.
"Daddy, why is Mommy crying?"
