Chapter 1 - THE CALL
Rachel’s name flashed across Michael’s phone again.
Nobody at the table moved.
Diane’s expression changed first.
The anger disappeared from her face so quickly that I almost missed it.
For the first time that night, she looked afraid.
I reached for the phone.
Michael grabbed it before I could.
“Don’t.”
One word.
Quiet.
Desperate.
I stared at him.
“You’ve had plenty of chances to tell me the truth.”
The phone stopped ringing.
Then immediately started again.
Rachel never called twice unless something was wrong.
I held out my hand.
“Give it to me.”
Michael looked toward his mother.
That was all I needed to see.
Whatever this was, Diane knew about it.
I took the phone from him and answered.
“Rachel?”
There was silence on the other end.
Then my sister whispered, “Claire?”
Her voice sounded shaken.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“Why are you answering Michael’s phone?”
“Because I’m sitting across from him.”
I looked directly at Diane.
“And his mother just told me to ask where he goes every Thursday night.”
Rachel inhaled sharply.
“Oh, God.”
Michael stood.
“Rachel, don’t.”
I turned on speakerphone.
“Don’t what?”
His face went white.
Rachel spoke before he could stop her.
“Claire, whatever you’re thinking, Michael and I are not having an affair.”
The room seemed to release one breath and take another.
Relief should have come.
It didn’t.
Because Rachel continued.
“He’s been meeting me because we found something.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What?”
Michael closed his eyes.
Rachel lowered her voice.
“Payments.”
Diane shoved her chair backward.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Rachel heard her.
“Is Diane there?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t let her leave.”
Diane laughed.
It sounded forced.
“Listen to your sister turning you against your family.”
Rachel ignored her.
“Claire, for the last fourteen years, someone has been sending money every month from an account connected to Michael’s family company.”
Michael stared at the table.
I stared at him.
“Sending it where?”
Rachel hesitated.
“To a woman named Lauren Carter.”
The name meant nothing to me for half a second.
Then I remembered the framed wedding photograph I had once found buried in a storage box.
Michael standing beside a dark-haired woman.
His first wife.
Lauren.
I looked at him.
“You’ve been paying your ex-wife?”
“No.”
His answer came immediately.
“I didn’t even know the payments existed until six weeks ago.”
Diane headed toward the doorway.
Michael blocked her.
“Sit down, Mom.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You have no right.”
“Sit down.”
I had never heard him speak to her like that.
Rachel continued.
“The payments didn’t start after Michael and Lauren divorced.”
My stomach twisted.
“When did they start?”
“The month Lauren disappeared.”
I looked at Michael.
He looked like someone had opened a grave beneath his feet.
Rachel’s next words silenced every person in the room.
“And Claire, there’s something else.”
Diane whispered, “Don’t.”
Rachel heard her.
“There was a child listed on the original payment agreement.”
Michael stopped breathing.
I looked at him.
“What child?”
Rachel answered.
May you like
“A boy.”
*
