Chapter 4 - BRENDA’S PRICE
For twelve years, Sarah had believed betrayal would feel like heartbreak.
It did not.
Not anymore.
Heartbreak had come earlier.
Heartbreak was the lipstick on Mark’s collar he dismissed as a waitress bumping into him.
The business trips that lasted an extra night.
The password changes.
The way he carried his phone from room to room.
The sudden irritation whenever Sarah asked simple questions.
By the time the bank confirmed that Mark had sent $270,000 to Brenda, heartbreak had hardened into something colder.
Evidence.
“What do we do?” Sarah asked.
Leah answered immediately.
“We follow the money.”
Clara was already typing.
The transfer had been routed through a domestic business account, then wired to a bank in the Cayman Islands.
Mark had labeled it a consulting fee.
Brenda’s company, BP Strategic Advising, had been created fourteen months earlier.
Its registered address was a rented mailbox.
No employees.
No website.
No known clients except companies linked to Mark.
Clara stared at the records.
“He’s been paying her for at least a year.”
“How much?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Guess.”
Clara hesitated.
“Based on what we can see? At least four hundred thousand.”
Sarah laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“He told me we couldn’t afford to replace the furnace last winter.”
Clara looked at her.
“He may have been moving marital money to Brenda.”
“So he wasn’t only cheating.”
“No.”
“He was paying her.”
“Possibly.”
Sarah looked out the office window.
“And I was home teaching Toby multiplication.”
Nobody replied.
Later that afternoon, Mark arrived for his first supervised visit.
A court-approved monitor sat in the room.
Sarah waited in the parking lot.
Thirty-seven minutes later, the monitor came outside.
“Toby wants you.”
Sarah’s heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“He’s upset.”
She found Toby curled in a chair.
Mark stood across the room, furious.
“I didn’t do anything,” he said.
Sarah ignored him.
She knelt beside Toby.
“What’s wrong?”
Toby buried his face against her.
“I don’t want Dad to go to jail.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Who told you Dad might go to jail?”
Toby did not answer.
The visitation monitor looked at Mark.
“I warned him twice not to discuss the case.”
Mark threw up his hands.
“I told my son his mother is making accusations.”
“You told him Mommy wants police to take Daddy away,” the monitor said.
Mark’s face changed.
Sarah stood.
The monitor ended the visit.
Mark followed Sarah into the hallway.
“You’re enjoying this.”
She stopped.
“Enjoying what?”
“Punishing me.”
“You stole money from our children.”
“You don’t understand why.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you don’t.”
“Then explain it.”
He opened his mouth.
Stopped.
Looked toward the monitor.
Then smiled.
“Not here.”
Sarah walked away.
That night, Brenda called.
Sarah almost ignored it.
Clara told her to answer and put the call on speaker.
“Sarah?”
Brenda sounded breathless.
“What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Talk.”
“Not over the phone.”
“Then we have nothing to discuss.”
“Please.”
Sarah exchanged a glance with Clara.
“What could you possibly say to me?”
Brenda was silent.
Then whispered, “Mark is lying to both of us.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“You expected him to be honest with his mistress?”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“There are things you don’t know.”
“Then tell me.”
Brenda lowered her voice.
“The guest house wasn’t Mark’s idea.”
Sarah froze.
“What does that mean?”
“Meet me.”
“No.”
“Sarah, he moved the money because he thinks everything is falling apart.”
“You helped him.”
“I helped with some things.”
“Fraud?”
Silence.
Sarah looked at Clara.
Clara was recording notes.
“Did you forge my signature?”
“No.”
“Did you know Mark forged it?”
Another silence.
Sarah felt her pulse quicken.
“Brenda?”
“I knew after.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of losing everything.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“You sat at my daughter’s birthday party.”
“I know.”
“You hugged me.”
“I know.”
“You slept with my husband in my guest house.”
Brenda began crying.
Sarah felt nothing.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I am.”
“You’re scared.”
The crying stopped.
Sarah knew she had hit the truth.
“What happened, Brenda?”
“He wants me to leave.”
“Where?”
“The country.”
Sarah sat down.
“He says we both have to go.”
“We?”
“He thinks I’m going with him.”
Clara leaned closer.
Sarah spoke carefully.
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Another long pause.
Then Brenda whispered, “Because I finally found out what happened to Daniel Reeve.”
Clara frowned.
Sarah had never heard the name.
“Who?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
Brenda inhaled shakily.
“Daniel was Mark’s business partner before you moved here.”
Sarah looked at Clara.
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
Sarah’s skin prickled.
“People don’t just disappear.”
“Mark said Daniel stole from the company and ran.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Sarah’s breath caught.
Toby was seven.
Something about the timing felt wrong.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Brenda spoke so quietly Sarah almost missed the words.
“Because the money Mark took from Toby’s account wasn’t for the guest house.”
Sarah gripped the phone.
“What was it for?”
“To pay Daniel.”
Sarah stared at Clara.
“Why?”
Brenda’s answer came as a whisper.
“To keep him quiet.”
The line disconnected.
Sarah immediately called back.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Twenty minutes later, Brenda’s phone went straight to voicemail.
At midnight, police found her car abandoned beside Route 16.
The driver’s door was open.
Her purse was on the passenger seat.
Her phone was gone.
And beneath the windshield wiper was an envelope.
May you like
On the front, in black ink, someone had written one name.
SARAH.
