Chapter 3: The Name on the Screen
The photographer stepped out from behind his camera bag.
“My name is Owen,” he said.
“I was taking candid photographs in the bridal suite when Claire picked up Daniel’s phone.”
Claire gave a short laugh.
“You photographed me holding my husband’s phone.
That proves nothing.”
“We’ve been married for less than an hour,” Daniel said.
“You weren’t my wife when you sent those messages.”
Owen turned his camera around.
“I took six photographs in burst mode.
Your screen is visible in four.”
“Delete them,” Claire said.
“No.”
Daniel held out his hand.
“Let me see.”
Claire moved between them.
“Daniel, think carefully.
Are you really going to humiliate me because your mother arrived upset?”
His mother flinched.
Daniel saw it.
“Don’t speak about her like that.”
“Like what?
She climbed over a gate and interrupted our reception covered in mud.”
“She came because someone trapped her there.”
“She was asked to rest.”
“The gate was locked.”
“I didn’t lock it.”
Owen placed the camera in Daniel’s hand.
“Zoom in on the second photograph.”
Daniel enlarged the image.
Claire stood beside the bridal-suite window with his phone in one hand and her own phone in the other.
On his screen was a message thread with his mother.
On Claire’s screen, a contact name appeared above several blue messages.
MARCUS.
Daniel looked up.
“Your brother?”
Claire folded her arms.
“He was helping with a family matter.”
Daniel swiped to the next photograph.
One message was clear.
She believes Daniel sent it.
Keep her at the cottage until the reception ends.
His thumb stopped moving.
“Claire,” he said, “tell me that doesn’t say what I think it says.”
“You’re looking at one sentence without context.”
“Then give me the context.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From my mother?”
“From a scene exactly like this.”
Daniel’s father lowered the microphone.
“The scene exists because you created it.”
Claire pointed at him.
“You never liked me.”
“I welcomed you into our home.”
“You tolerated me because Daniel loved me.”
Daniel handed the camera back to Owen.
“Did Marcus lock the gate?”
“No,” Claire said quickly.
“Marcus only arranged the cottage.”
His mother stepped closer.
Mud broke loose from the hem of her dress and fell onto the marble.
“He took my phone,” she said.
“He told me Daniel didn’t want me calling anyone.”
Claire’s eyes moved toward the ballroom doors.
Daniel blocked her path.
“You’re not leaving until you answer me.”
“Move.”
“Did you use my phone?”
“You gave me the passcode.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“Yes, I used it.
Because your mother wouldn’t stop interfering.”
Daniel’s mother gripped the back of a chair.
“Interfering with what?” Daniel asked.
Claire looked across the watching guests.
“Do you truly want me to answer that here?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.” She reached into the small bridal purse hanging from her chair.
“Your mother offered me money to disappear.”
Daniel’s mother closed her eyes.
Claire removed a photocopied check and held it above her head.
“One hundred thousand dollars,” she said.
“Signed by the woman everyone is rushing to defend.”
Daniel took the copy.
His mother’s signature stretched across the bottom.
“Mom,” he whispered, “did you write this?”
His mother’s knees began to fold.
Daniel caught her before she reached the floor.
May you like
Claire tucked the check back into her purse.
“Now,” she said, “ask your mother what she was trying to buy.”
