Chapter 3: What the Note Said
Rachel held the paper out to me with both hands, the way you hand someone something fragile.
I took it.
The handwriting was neat, careful, slightly old-fashioned — the kind of penmanship that belonged to someone who had learned it from a teacher who used a ruler.
*Nora.
I know you don't know me.
My name is Pauline.
I was Derek's first wife.
I left him six years ago for the same reasons you left him last night.
I have been watching what he does to women for a long time and I couldn't stay quiet anymore.
There are things you need to know before he finds you.
Please call me.
I will answer.*
A phone number was written below the name.
I read it twice.
Then I set it flat on the blanket covering my legs.
Rachel was watching my face.
"A first wife," I said.
"He told you he was never married before."
It wasn't a question.
She already knew the answer.
I had told her that, early on, when Derek and I were still new and I had believed everything he said without checking.
"He told me he'd never even been close," I said.
Rachel picked up the note and read it again herself.
Her jaw tightened.
"How did she know which hospital?"
"I don't know."
"How did she know your name?"
"Rachel."
"How did she know you left last night at all?"
"I don't know." I looked down at Emily.
She was still asleep, her mouth slightly open, her whole body rising and falling in the slow rhythm of someone who had never once been lied to.
"But she knew.
And she came."
Rachel set the note on the tray table.
"You're going to call her."
"Not yet."
"Nora—"
"I just had a baby four hours ago." I shifted Emily slightly against my chest.
"I need one hour where I'm not thinking about Derek."
Rachel was quiet for a moment.
Then she sat back in her chair.
"One hour," she said.
"Then we call."
The hour passed.
Emily woke, fed, and fell back asleep.
A different nurse came in to check my blood pressure and asked if I needed anything.
I said no.
She smiled at Emily and left.
Rachel picked up the note.
I dialed.
Pauline answered on the second ring.
"Nora." Her voice was steady and warm, the voice of someone who had been expecting this call for a long time.
"I'm so glad you're safe."
"How did you know where I was?"
"I've had a friend watching your house for three weeks," she said.
"Since the night you called your sister.
Derek talks loudly when he's angry.
The windows were open."
My throat tightened.
"You've been watching since—"
"Since I heard him tell you that your feelings were a performance." A pause.
"I recognized that sentence.
He said the same thing to me.
Almost word for word."
Rachel was leaning forward in her chair now, trying to hear.
"What do you need to tell me?" I asked.
"Several things," Pauline said.
"But the most important one first." Another pause, shorter this time.
"Derek has been moving money out of your joint account for the past four months.
I have documentation.
And I have a lawyer who has been waiting for you to be ready."
The room felt very still.
"How much?" I asked.
"Enough," Pauline said, "that you won't be starting over with nothing.
Not if we move quickly."
I looked at Rachel.
Her eyes were wide.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked Pauline.
May you like
The answer came without hesitation.
"Because nobody did it for me."
