Mark stepped forward.
“What the hell is this?”
I placed the unsigned refinancing agreement on the entry table.
“This,” I said.
Jessica saw it and stopped breathing for a beat.
Mark looked at me.
His expression changed.
He knew.
Not everything I knew.
But enough.
“You went through my things?” he demanded.
“No.
You handed me that paper yourself.”
James removed copies of the transaction records from his coat.
Jessica immediately shook her head.
“James, whatever you think—”
“I think money left our marriage through accounts you controlled.”
She looked at Mark.
He noticed.
So did I.
“Don’t look at me,” Mark snapped.
Jessica’s mouth fell open.
There it was.
The first fracture.
The united lovers suddenly became two frightened people searching for the safest direction to run.
I laid the forged authorization beside the refinancing form.
Mark stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Interesting question,” I said.
“I had a different one.
Who signed my name?”
“I didn’t.”
Too fast.
Jessica backed toward the door.
James blocked nothing.
He simply watched her.
“You told me Mark handled the paperwork,” she said.
Mark turned on her.
“Jessica.”
“What? You did.”
“You said your side was covered.”
Silence.
The clock in the living room ticked toward midnight.
James looked at me.
Neither of us needed to say anything.
They were doing the work for us.
Mark realized it too late.
He stopped talking.
Jessica did not.
“You told me Anna never checked those accounts,” she said.
“You said once the refinance cleared, everything would be settled before the filings.”
Mark’s face went colorless.
“Stop.”
Jessica stared at him as though she had never seen him clearly before.
“You said she signed things without reading them.”
I almost laughed.
