Chapter 9
Lauren was arrested before sunrise.
Not for murder.
Not yet.
Forgery.
Theft.
Fraud.
Evidence tampering.
Charges the police could support immediately.
The rest would take longer.
I expected to feel relief.
I felt nothing.
At eight in the morning, Sophie and I sat together on the back porch wrapped in blankets.
The rain had stopped.
Everything smelled wet.
Clean.
It didn’t feel clean.
“Is she coming back?”
Sophie asked.
“No.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
This time, I made sure I meant it.
She watched water drip from the roof.
“What happens if they let her out?”
“She won’t live here.”
“Can she make us?”
“No.”
“You said married people share things.”
I looked at her.
“I said some things were shared. I was wrong about other things.”
She nodded.
“Are you getting divorced?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No maybe.
No someday.
Yes.
Sophie leaned against me.
“Good.”
That afternoon, Detective Ruiz returned.
She brought news about the license plate.
“The Explorer registered to Lauren was reported stolen two days before Rachel’s crash.”
I stared at her.
“By Lauren?”
“Yes.”
“And recovered?”
“Three days after the crash.”
“Where?”
“Portland.”
“Was it processed?”
“Not beyond the stolen-vehicle report. No one connected it to Rachel.”
“Who found it?”
“A patrol officer.”
“Any damage?”
Ruiz opened her notebook.
“Front passenger-side damage. Scraping. Broken light.”
I closed my eyes.
“You have to be kidding.”
“At the time, Lauren claimed the damage occurred during the theft.”
“And everyone believed her.”
“There was no reason not to.”
“There was Rachel’s car.”
“Different jurisdiction. Different report. No shared connection.”
One missing line between two pieces of paper.
That was all it took.
Ruiz continued.
“We also identified the purchaser of Rachel’s necklace.”
My heart jumped.
“Can we get it back?”
“Possibly.”
“Who bought it?”
“A private collector.”
“Do they know it was stolen?”
“They do now.”
“And?”
“They’ve agreed not to sell or move it while ownership is resolved.”
Sophie appeared from the hallway.
“You found it?”
Ruiz smiled gently.
“We found where it is.”
“Can I have it?”
“We’re working on that.”
Sophie’s shoulders dropped.
I put an arm around her.
Ruiz looked at me.
“There’s more.”
Of course there was.
There was always more.
“What?”
“David Knox turned himself in this morning.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“He says he wants a deal.”
I almost laughed.
“A deal?”
“He has information.”
“He kidnapped my daughter.”
“He claims he brought Sophie to the station voluntarily.”
“He put her in his car.”
“I’m telling you what he claims, not what I believe.”
I stood.
“Does he admit Rachel’s crash?”
“He admits being there.”
“And?”
“He says Lauren planned to frighten Rachel.”
“Why?”
Ruiz’s expression became careful.
“Jealousy.”
“That’s not enough.”
“He says Lauren had been watching you for months before the fundraiser.”
My stomach tightened.
“Before?”
“Yes.”
That contradicted everything.
Lauren claimed she noticed me at the fundraiser.
David said earlier.
“How much earlier?”
“At least nine months.”
Rachel had still been alive.
Very alive.
“Why me?”
“David says Lauren saw you at a restaurant in Portland during a business trip.”
I remembered traveling there.
A conference.
Rachel hadn’t come.
“She became interested in you.”
“Interested?”
“Fixated.”
I walked toward the window.
Ruiz continued.
“According to David, Lauren learned you were married. Instead of moving on, she researched Rachel.”
“That sounds insane.”
“Yes.”
“She wanted my wife gone?”
“David says she talked about how unhappy you looked.”
I turned.
“I wasn’t unhappy.”
“I understand.”
“She didn’t know me.”
“I understand.”
“She created some fantasy.”
“That appears possible.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So David helped her?”
“He says no.”
“What?”
“He claims he tried to stop her.”
I stared.
“The violent ex-boyfriend now says he was the reasonable one?”
“That is his account.”
“Why was he in the car?”
“He says Lauren asked him to come because she wanted to scare Rachel into admitting something.”
“What?”
“That Rachel was cheating.”
I blinked.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Was Rachel having an affair?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
Ruiz nodded.
“David says Lauren convinced herself Rachel was cheating and that you would leave her if you knew.”
I felt disgusted.
“She created an affair in her head so she could save me from it?”
“That’s one interpretation.”
“And the crash?”
“David says Lauren followed Rachel. He was in the passenger seat. They argued. Lauren struck Rachel’s vehicle accidentally the first time.”
“The video shows two hits.”
“He says the second was deliberate.”
I closed my eyes.
“And when Rachel went over the guardrail?”
“He wanted to leave. Lauren wanted to call for help.”
“That matches the video.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Lauren leave?”
“David says he convinced her they would both go to prison.”
I sat again.
“What did they do after?”
“They drove south. Lauren reported the SUV stolen. David helped clean it.”
“So he is not innocent.”
“No.”
“Why give Sophie the video?”
“He says guilt.”
I laughed.
“After four years?”
“And self-preservation.”
“That I believe.”
Ruiz looked toward the hallway.
“He claims Lauren started blackmailing him first.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“After she married you.”
“No. Lauren said David was blackmailing her.”
“He says it was mutual.”
I stared.
Ruiz continued.
“Lauren feared David would tell you about Rachel. David feared Lauren would implicate him as the driver.”
“So they threatened each other.”
“Yes.”
“And the money?”
“He claims Lauren paid him to stay away after he demanded reimbursement for old debts and legal expenses.”
“Then why the photographs?”
“Some of the photos in Lauren’s desk were taken by David. Some may have been taken by Lauren.”
I rubbed my face.
“Two obsessed people destroyed my family and spent four years blaming each other.”
Ruiz didn’t correct me.
Sophie walked into the room again.
“What happens now?”
Ruiz answered gently.
“The truth gets sorted out.”
Sophie shook her head.
“The truth already happened.”
Ruiz looked at her.
Sophie continued.
“Sorting it out doesn’t change it.”
No one had an answer.
Three days later, Lauren asked to speak with me.
Through her lawyer.
I refused.
Then she sent a letter.
I almost threw it away.
Sophie saw it on the counter.
“Are you going to read it?”
“No.”
“What if it says where Mom’s other things are?”
That was the only reason I opened it.
The letter was eight pages.
Most of it was apology.
Justification.
Fear.
Love.
Or what Lauren called love.
Then, on page seven:
There is something Mark still doesn’t know about the night Rachel died.
David left before I did.
I went back to the car.
Rachel was alive.
I spoke to her.
I stopped reading.
My hands shook.
Sophie watched me.
“What?”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What does it say?”
I picked up my phone.
Called Ruiz.
She arrived twenty minutes later.
Read the letter.
Then looked at me.
“This changes the timeline.”
“What did Lauren do?”
“We don’t know.”
“She says she spoke to Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“Why was that never in the video?”
“The camera stopped before then.”
My mouth went dry.
“What could Rachel possibly have said to her?”
Ruiz didn’t answer.
The letter did.
At the bottom of page seven, Lauren had written:
May you like
Rachel knew who I was.
And before she died, she told me she had been waiting for me.
