I put laxatives in my husband’s coffee before he left to see his mistress

The office looked ordinary.

Desk.

Printer.

Filing cabinet.

Family photo of the three of us at Yellowstone.

That photograph nearly broke me.

Then Detective Lee opened a desk drawer.

Inside was a second phone.

Brad had once told me he hated people who needed two phones.

Apparently he only hated honesty when it required additional hardware.

Police handled the device as evidence rather than letting me search it.

The investigation took time.

But pieces surfaced quickly.

Brad had not just been preparing to leave me.

For nearly a year, he had been moving marital funds.

Some went toward hotel rooms and gifts for Melissa.

Some went toward a condominium deposit.

Some went into an account he had opened with his brother.

The home-equity paperwork was more serious.

The signature purporting to be mine became part of a fraud investigation.

Then came the discovery that terrified even Melissa.

On Brad’s second phone were messages between him and his brother, Kevin.

Three weeks before I discovered the affair:

Brad:

Once the equity clears I’ll file.

Kevin:

What if Natalie contests it?

Brad:

She won’t have the money to fight long.

Kevin:

Her bookkeeping business does okay.

Brad:

Not after clients hear she’s unstable.

Another message:

Kevin:

Don’t do anything stupid.

Brad:

Relax. I’m not talking violence. I’m talking leverage.

Then:

Brad: