I swallowed.
“Removed?”
“Lucas was at your house yesterday afternoon while you were at the dentist.”
I said nothing.
I had gone to the dentist at two. Lucas had told me he was at the office tying up loose ends before his so-called international transfer.
“He left with a folder,” Grace said. “Blue. Legal size.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was parked outside.”
The anger returned, but now it had nowhere clean to land.
“You were stalking my husband.”
“I was trying to understand what he was doing.”
“Why?”
“Because my sister is Melanie Harper.”
That name dropped between us like glass breaking.
For a few seconds, I could not speak.
I had imagined Melanie in fragments: the other woman, the smiling coworker in holiday party photos, the person Lucas texted too late at night, the woman who had taken what was mine. I had not imagined her having a sister. A family. Someone worried enough to follow her.
Grace exhaled shakily.
“Anne, I know what you found on his laptop. I know about the condo. I know about the pregnancy. But there are pieces you don’t have.”
My voice came out quieter than I expected.
“Is Melanie with him?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
