Part 2

Claire and Marisol went downstairs without Evan.

They chose a table in the hotel cafe beside the front desk, where cameras covered the room and staff moved constantly through the lobby. Claire ordered water. Marisol ordered nothing. For several minutes neither woman spoke, because both were deciding whether the other was an enemy or another person who had been given a carefully edited life.

Marisol placed the envelope between them.

"I met Evan eighteen months ago," she said. "He hired my design studio to prepare plans for a boutique residence on Mercer Street. He told me you had left the company after your divorce."

Claire had never worked for Evan's company. Mercer Street belonged to a small holding company her father created before he died. Claire was the sole manager. The upper floors were empty, but the ground floor still housed three neighborhood businesses at protected rents.

"He had no authority to offer that property," Claire said.

Marisol unfolded the signature page. It described Claire as a consenting owner and promised a transfer of controlling interest after Marisol invested four hundred thousand dollars. Her money had been presented as the final piece of financing for renovations. Half had already moved into an account controlled by Evan.

"I believed I was buying forty percent of the project," Marisol said. "The remaining money is scheduled to transfer tomorrow."

Claire photographed each page without taking the originals. Marisol photographed Claire's wedding ring, the second phone, and the date on Claire's driver's license. They agreed to preserve what each person already possessed and to send copies to separate lawyers. They would not open private messages that did not belong to them. The locked-screen notifications and documents were enough to begin.

Evan called Marisol first. She put the phone on speaker only after telling him she was doing so.

"Claire has been unstable since her father died," he said. "Do not sign anything she gives you."

Claire said nothing.

"She is trying to ruin the project because she thinks the building should stay empty forever."

Marisol looked at Claire. "You told me Claire approved the deal."

"She did. She is pretending otherwise because she found out about us."

The sentence was designed to turn financial evidence into jealous retaliation. Claire recognized the tactic immediately. Evan wanted the affair to become the whole story because betrayal was easier to argue about than authority.

"Ask him where I signed," Claire said.

Marisol repeated the question.

Evan paused. "At our house. Tuesday night."

Claire had been at the memorial garden from Tuesday morning until Wednesday evening. She sent Marisol a photograph from the dedication ceremony. A county commissioner stood beside Claire beneath a banner bearing Tuesday's date.

Marisol ended the call.

Then the second phone lit up on the table. A message preview appeared from someone saved only as R.

Do not let either woman see the Mercer valuation.

Claire and Marisol did not touch the screen. They photographed the notification from two angles.

"Who is R?" Marisol asked.

Claire knew only one person connected to both Evan and the old building whose name began with that letter.

Her father's former attorney, Randall Shaw.