Chapter 2 - The Woman at the Lake
I carried the photographs into my office and locked the door.
Lorraine pounded on it twice.
I ignored her.
Gabriel remained in the hallway until I opened the door again and asked him inside.
He sat across from my desk without touching anything.
“Who hired you?”
“A man named David Blake.”
I did not recognize the name.
Gabriel placed another envelope beside my computer.
“David is married to the woman in those photographs.”
My stomach tightened.
“Her name is Serena Blake.”
I closed my eyes for one second.
Andrew had not simply cheated on me.
He had been sleeping with another married person in a cottage purchased with money my grandmother had left me.
“How long?”
“I personally documented eight weeks.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Gabriel understood.
“David believes the affair has lasted at least nine months.”
My thirty-second birthday suddenly felt very far away.
For nine months, Andrew had kissed me goodnight.
He had complained about work travel.
He had forgotten groceries.
He had asked me whether I could cover extra household expenses because commissions were down.
And somewhere inside those same months, he had been driving to my cottage with Serena.
“Why send you here?”
“David confronted his wife yesterday.”
I looked toward the photographs.
“What did she say?”
“That your husband told her your marriage had effectively ended.”
I laughed once.
There was nothing funny in it.
Gabriel continued.
“He told Serena that you were staying temporarily because of financial issues.”
“This is my house.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Gabriel glanced toward the second envelope.
“Because David started checking the things Andrew had told Serena.”
I opened it.
There were screenshots of messages.
Most were between Andrew and Serena.
The first ones were romantic.
Then they became practical.
House listings.
Renovation ideas.
Furniture.
A photograph of my kitchen with Serena’s message beneath it.
I love those windows.
Andrew had replied.
They’ll be ours soon.
I stopped breathing for half a second.
Gabriel pointed toward another page.
“Keep reading.”
Several weeks later, Serena had asked what would happen if I refused to leave.
Andrew’s answer contained only six words.
Mom is making that part easy.
My hand went cold.
I read it again.
Mom is making that part easy.
Every insult.
Every criticism.
Every argument Lorraine started over dishes, laundry, food, clothing, my work schedule, my friends, my family, and even the way I parked my car suddenly rearranged themselves in my memory.
They had not all been random.
Some of them might have been deliberate.
Gabriel handed me another screenshot.
Serena had written.
I don’t want trouble with Claire.
Andrew answered.
She’ll leave before she knows about us.
Then another message.
Once she’s gone, the house situation gets simpler.
I looked at Gabriel.
“What does that mean?”
“That is what David wanted you to ask.”
At that exact moment, someone struck the office door from the other side.
“Claire.”
Lorraine’s voice trembled.
“Open this door.”
I remained seated.
“Why?”
“We need to talk before Andrew comes home.”
The words were so different from her earlier arrogance that Gabriel noticed too.
I opened the door but did not invite her inside.
Lorraine’s eyes dropped to the screenshots.
All the color left her face.
“What has that man given you?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
I held up the message.
“Mom is making that part easy.”
Lorraine said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“Did Andrew ask you to make me leave?”
“No.”
“Did he ask you to make living here unbearable?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you about Serena?”
Her eyes moved toward the window.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“I did not know what he was doing.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“He said he had met someone.”
The room seemed to become smaller.
“When?”
Lorraine swallowed.
“Last winter.”
Nine months earlier.
Exactly when David believed the affair had begun.
“You knew your son was cheating on me for nine months.”
“He said the marriage was already unhappy.”
“For him?”
“For both of you.”
“You do not get to tell me whether my marriage was over.”
“He was miserable.”
“And therefore I deserved a pot thrown at my head?”
“That was an accident.”
Gabriel shifted in his chair.
Lorraine noticed his expression.
Her confidence cracked.
“I am calling my son.”
She hurried downstairs.
I turned to Gabriel.
“You said the property situation might be simpler if I left.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Because David found something else in Serena’s messages.”
He handed me one final screenshot.
It was from Andrew.
Only three days old.
If Claire signs Monday, everything changes.
Underneath it was Serena’s reply.
Does she know what she’s signing?
Andrew had answered.
She never reads bank paperwork.
I stared at those words until the letters blurred.
Because Andrew was wrong about many things.
May you like
But he was especially wrong about that.
I read everything.
