Chapter 7: What Devereux Was Hired to Do
Claire Ashworth called back at seven the next morning.
Adrian was already awake.
He had slept in the armchair outside the children's rooms, his phone on his knee, the door cracked so he could hear them breathing.
"The protective order is filed," Claire said.
"We'll have a hearing within seventy-two hours.
In the meantime, she cannot enter the property or make contact with the children." A pause.
"Adrian, I need to tell you something about D.
Reyes."
"Tell me."
"His full name is Dominic Reyes.
He is a licensed asset manager based in Miami.
He specializes in offshore accounts and rapid wealth transfers." Another pause.
"He is also, according to the Florida Bar, currently under a separate civil investigation for helping a client conceal marital assets during a divorce proceeding."
Adrian was quiet.
"She was planning to leave," he said.
"It looks that way.
And she was moving money to do it." Claire's voice was measured.
"The account on that statement — if those deposits were sourced from your joint holdings, that is financial misconduct.
Possibly fraud.
I've already referred the statement to a forensic accountant."
"How long has this been going on?"
"The account was opened eighteen months ago.
That's two months after you married her."
He stood up from the armchair and walked to the window.
The garden was grey in the early light.
The doghouse was still there near the hedges, its door hanging open.
"She never intended to stay," he said.
"That's what the evidence suggests.
The children may have been the complication she didn't account for."
"What do you mean?"
"The confidentiality agreement she had Rosa sign.
The effort to control what could be reported.
If she was planning to exit the marriage cleanly, the last thing she needed was a paper trail of how she treated your children while she was here." Claire paused.
"Adrian, whoever sent you that message last night — do you have any idea who it was?"
"No."
"It may have been Reyes himself.
Or someone close to him.
If their arrangement fell apart, he may have decided to protect himself by pointing the finger at her."
"Or someone in this house knew more than they said."
"That's also possible."
He thought about Rosa.
About the document she had signed without reading page two.
About the way she had sat down in the living room the night before and talked for twenty-two minutes without stopping.
"I don't think it was Rosa," he said.
"No," Claire agreed.
"But there may be someone else.
The attorney who drafted that confidentiality agreement — Marcus.
I looked him up last night.
He is not licensed in this state.
He is, however, licensed in Florida."
Adrian turned from the window.
"He knows Reyes," he said.
"They went to law school together."
The shape of it came together all at once — not a single act of cruelty but a plan.
Vanessa in the mansion.
Vanessa managing the household, managing Rosa, managing what could be seen and reported.
Vanessa moving money in amounts just small enough to avoid flags.
Vanessa at dinner on March 14th, laughing, her hand on Reyes's arm, while two small children were alone in a house with no one watching.
"What was she going to do with the money?" he asked.
"We don't know yet.
But Reyes's previous client — the one from the Florida case — walked away from a thirty-year marriage with almost nothing.
The husband didn't know the account existed until the divorce was already filed."
Adrian looked at the doghouse again.
"She was going to file first," he said.
"Almost certainly.
And she was going to do it before you had any reason to look."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Claire," he said.
"The children were alone in this house on March 14th.
I need to know if anything happened that night."
A pause on the line.
"I'll find out," she said.
May you like
After he ended the call, he stood at the window until he heard Noah's voice from down the hall — small and sleepy, calling for him.
He went.
