Chapter 5: What Marcus Found
She called him at seven the next morning, standing outside on Diane's small balcony with her coat pulled tight against the cold.
Marcus picked up on the second ring.
"What did you find?" Maya said.
"I need to show you in person."
"Marcus.
Tell me now."
A pause.
"After I left the restaurant last night, I was angry.
I went home and I looked James up.
His name, his company, everything." Another pause.
"Maya, what does your husband actually do for work?"
She frowned.
"He's in finance.
Investment consulting."
"What company?"
"Harlow Capital.
He's been there eleven years."
Silence on the line.
"Marcus."
"Harlow Capital dissolved fourteen months ago," Marcus said.
"I found the filing.
The company closed.
There were regulatory issues — I don't have all the details, but it wasn't clean."
Maya's hand tightened on the phone.
"That's not possible.
He goes to work every day."
"Where does he go, Maya?
Have you ever been to his office?"
She opened her mouth.
Closed it.
She had been to the Harlow Capital offices once, three years ago, for a Christmas party.
She had not been back since.
James always said the building was secure, that guests needed to be registered in advance.
"He leaves at eight," she said slowly.
"He comes home at six-thirty.
Sometimes later."
"I know," Marcus said.
"But I'm telling you the company doesn't exist anymore.
And I found something else." He stopped.
"I think you need to see it.
Can you meet me?"
"Where?"
"The coffee place on Alderton Street.
One hour."
Maya stood on the balcony for a moment after the call ended.
The city was just waking up below her.
A bus moved slowly through the intersection.
A woman walked a dog along the wet pavement.
*He goes to work every day.*
She thought about the divorce petition.
The photographs.
The six months of silence.
She thought about a man who had known everything and said nothing, who had watched and waited and planned, and she felt the first cold edge of something she hadn't felt before.
Not guilt.
Not grief.
Fear.
She was inside pulling on her shoes when Diane appeared in the doorway.
"Where are you going?"
"I need to meet someone."
Diane looked at her for a moment.
"James?"
"No." Maya picked up her bag.
"I'll explain later."
"Maya." Diane's voice stopped her at the door.
"Whatever Marcus told you — be careful about what you do with it.
He has a reason to want James to look bad right now."
Maya looked back at her.
"What if he's right?"
Diane didn't answer quickly enough.
Maya left.
She arrived at the coffee shop eight minutes before Marcus.
He was already at a corner table when she walked in, his laptop open, a coffee going cold beside it.
He looked like he hadn't slept either.
He turned the laptop to face her without saying a word.
On the screen was a scanned document.
A name at the top she didn't recognize.
A financial transfer.
A date from eleven months ago.
And at the bottom, a signature she knew as well as her own handwriting.
James's signature.
"What am I looking at?" she said.
"I'm not sure yet," Marcus said.
"But whoever this money went to — it wasn't Harlow Capital." He looked at her steadily.
"Maya.
Your husband has been hiding something.
And I don't think it's just the divorce petition."
Maya stared at the signature on the screen.
The coffee shop was warm and bright and full of ordinary morning sounds.
She felt none of it.
May you like
"Where did you get this?" she asked.
Marcus hesitated one beat too long.
