For a moment, I couldn’t speak.
Then I asked the question I had been afraid to ask since the night visitor appeared outside my home.
“Did Richard agree?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he reply?”
“Yes.”
I waited.
Vesna’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“He wrote, ‘I’ll handle Claire.'”
I felt the last trace of hope I had held for my marriage disappear.
Not because Richard had cheated.
Not because he had stolen money.
Not even because he had tried to use Vesna and her baby.
But because, when faced with the possibility that the truth might destroy him, he had apparently considered his own wife a problem to be handled.
I thanked Vesna for telling me.
Then I contacted Margaret and passed on the information.
The next morning, the authorities confirmed that the message was being reviewed as part of the investigation.
There was still much they needed to establish.
