For the first time that morning, uncertainty touched me.
Vanessa saw it.
Her smile widened.
“Richard knew.”
My blood went cold.
“What?”
“Your husband knew about the plan.”
Daniel lifted his head.
Hale closed his eyes.
Vanessa leaned back.
“Ask yourself how I knew the actual value of the property.”
I stared at her.
“Richard told me.”
PART 6 — MY HUSBAND’S LAST SECRET
For eleven months, I had carried grief like a second skeleton.
Richard and I had been married forty-seven years.
We argued.
We disappointed each other.
We sometimes spent entire evenings refusing to admit who was wrong.
But he was my home.
The idea that he had participated in any plan to strip me of mine was impossible.
Vanessa saw the disbelief on my face.
“Oh, he didn’t want to hurt you,” she said. “He wanted to protect Daniel.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Protect me from what?”
Vanessa laughed again.
“Your debts.”
Daniel went still.
I knew he had financial trouble.
I did not know how bad it was.
Vanessa continued.
“Richard knew Daniel owed almost six hundred thousand dollars.”
My son’s face collapsed.
I stared at him.
“Six hundred thousand?”
He whispered, “Investments went bad.”
Investments.
