Chapter 5: What Paula Knew
Paula called at eleven-fifteen, after the last car had pulled out of the driveway.
I was in the upstairs bathroom with the door locked and the tap running low.
Mark was downstairs.
I could hear the television.
"Chloe." Paula's voice was careful the moment I picked up.
"What happened?"
"Megan h*t Lily at dinner."
Silence.
"Paula."
"I heard you." Another pause.
"Is Lily okay?"
"She cried herself to sleep.
She's fine now." I sat down on the edge of the tub.
"But that's not why I'm calling."
I played her the recording through the phone.
She listened without speaking.
When it ended she was quiet for so long I checked to make sure the call was still connected.
"Paula."
"Who gave you that?"
"Zoe."
"God." A long exhale.
"Chloe, I need to tell you something and I need you to stay calm."
My hand tightened on the phone.
"Tell me."
"Three months ago, Dennis called Tom." Tom was Paula's husband.
"He said Mark had been talking to a family attorney.
Not a couples therapist.
Not a mediator.
An attorney.
He said it was about protecting assets before —" She stopped.
"Before what?"
"Before initiating a separation."
The tap was still running.
I stared at the tile grout between my feet.
"How long have you known?"
"Tom told me the same night.
I wanted to call you.
I almost called you four times." Her voice broke slightly.
"But it was secondhand, Chloe.
I didn't have anything solid.
I didn't want to blow up your marriage on a rumor."
"Megan is the one driving this."
"I know.
I've always known what Megan thinks of you." Paula's voice hardened.
"She's never thought you were good enough.
Not your job, not your family background, not the way you raise Lily.
I've heard her at three different dinners, Chloe.
She doesn't bother lowering her voice when I'm in the room because she doesn't think I matter either."
I stood up.
"The man who came to their house with a folder.
Do you know who he is?"
"No.
But if Mark has been meeting with a family attorney, there's paperwork somewhere.
Asset lists.
Account reviews.
Chloe — if they've already started, they have a three-week head start on you."
I turned off the tap.
"I need a lawyer."
"Yes."
"Tomorrow."
"I can have a name for you by eight in the morning," Paula said.
"She's the best in the county.
She handled Renee's divorce when her ex tried to hide the business accounts.
She found everything."
Downstairs the television went off.
I heard Mark's footsteps on the stairs.
"Send me her number tonight," I said quietly.
"Already typing it." A pause.
"Chloe.
I'm sorry I waited."
"Don't be sorry.
Just send the number."
I ended the call and set my phone face-down on the sink.
The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom door.
"Chloe?" Mark's voice.
Careful.
Controlled.
"You coming to bed?"
I looked at myself in the mirror for a moment.
"In a minute."
His footsteps moved away.
I heard the bedroom door close.
I picked up my phone and copied the attorney's name into a new note: *Carol Vance.*
Then I added a second line beneath it: *Recording — saved.
Sent to Paula.*
Then a third: *Don't let him know what you know.
Not yet.*
I turned off the bathroom light and went to check on Lily.
She was sleeping on her side, one hand under her cheek.
The mark on her face had faded to almost nothing.
May you like
I sat in the chair by her bed until I was sure I could walk into the bedroom without my face giving anything away.
Then I went to bed, lay down six inches from my husband, and stared at the ceiling until morning.
