The system records automatically.
Preston knew it was there.”
Officer Reed raised an eyebrow.
“He knew?”
“He apparently forgot.”
That was when I remembered the missing money.
Not because I thought it caused the crash, but because the recording had transformed the day from a marriage crisis into something else.
“Officer,” I said, “there may be another issue.”
He waited.
“Four months ago, sixty-eight thousand dollars disappeared from a joint account I share with Preston.
He refused to tell me where it went.”
“That would normally be a separate civil or financial matter,” he said carefully.
“I understand.
But after hearing him plan to put a false statement in my name, I’m no longer comfortable assuming the transfer was harmless.”
Officer Reed made a note.
“Do you have records?”
“Yes.”
Of course I did.
I had downloaded the statements the week the money vanished.
At the time, Preston had mocked me for keeping copies.
I opened another folder on my phone.
The transfer had not gone to a mysterious company or an investment account.
It had gone through several transactions before landing in an account tied to a rental property deposit and living expenses.
I had never been able to prove whose expenses they were.
Brooke would do that for me later that evening.
After nearly an hour, I was allowed to leave the interview room.
Vivian was gone from the hallway.
Preston was still speaking with police.
Brooke was seated alone near the maternity unit, staring at the floor.
When she saw me, she stood uncertainly.
“Madison.”
I stopped several feet away.
“I know you hate me.”
“I don’t know you well enough to hate you.”
That seemed to hurt more.
She swallowed.
“I didn’t know he was going to make you take the blame.”
“You heard him say it in the car.”
“He told me he was kidding.”
“You still drove.”
Her eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
There was no useful answer to that.
She rubbed her bandaged wrist.
“He told me the Mercedes was basically his.”
“It isn’t.”
“I know that now.”
I started to walk away.
“Wait.”
I turned.
Brooke reached into her purse and pulled out her phone.
“I think you should see something.”
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then she opened a series of messages.
Preston’s name was at the top.
The messages stretched back months.
