Chapter 6 - THE HUSBAND WHO SOLD HIS SOUL|
I saw Daniel Bennett again at eleven the following morning.
Not in a dream.
Not in an old photograph.
Not beside the grave where I had spent four years crying.
He was sitting in an interview room at a Chicago police station, wearing a wrinkled gray shirt.
Detective Torres had arranged for him to come in with an attorney after investigators traced his communications and contacted him.
He had agreed to provide information about Vanessa.
I had agreed to see him.
For ten minutes, I stood outside the room, staring through the small glass window.
He looked older than thirty-four.
There were lines beside his mouth that hadn't been there before.
His hair was shorter, and the scar above his eyebrow was deeper than it appeared in the photograph.
But when he lifted his head, I recognized the man who used to make pancakes on Sunday mornings.
The man who held my hand when my mother died.
The man who promised me a lifetime.
Luca stood a few feet away.
"You can change your mind."
I shook my head.
"I need to hear him say it."
Then I opened the door.
Daniel stood so quickly his chair scraped across the floor.
"Claire."
I stopped.
He looked as if he wanted to embrace me.
I raised my hand.
"Don't."
His face crumpled.
"Please."
"Sit down."
He obeyed.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then I placed our wedding photograph on the table.
"Do you remember this day?"
He looked at it.
"Of course."
"You promised to love me until death."
He closed his eyes.
"Claire."
"But you didn't die."
"No."
"You chose to leave."
His shoulders sagged.
"Yes."
I thought those words would make me scream.
Instead, I felt an emptiness so profound that I almost welcomed it.
"Why?"
Daniel rubbed his face.
"I was working for a construction contractor connected to Graham Ward."
"At first, I thought I was helping process legitimate invoices."
"Then I realized the company was charging charities for work that had never been done."
"Vanessa was coordinating some of the contracts."
"She offered me money to stay quiet."
"And you took it?"
He nodded.
"I was already in debt."
"How much?"
"Nearly three hundred thousand dollars."
I stared at him.
"From what?"
"Bad investments."
"Gambling."
"Loans I couldn't repay."
I remembered the bills he had hidden.
The late-night phone calls.
The promises that everything would get better.
I had believed he was struggling to build a better life for us.
He had been gambling away the life we already had.
"When I threatened to expose the invoices, Graham's people warned me that I could be prosecuted too," he continued.
"I knew they had enough evidence to prove I'd helped them."
"So you ran."
"I agreed to disappear."
"How?"
He stared at the table.
"The contractor staged an accident at the demolition site."
"They used false identification records and made sure you received a closed coffin."
I gripped the chair.
"Whose body was in that coffin?"
"I don't know."
A cold silence settled between us.
I had mourned a stranger.
Someone else's family might have been wondering where their loved one had gone.
Daniel's attorney shifted uncomfortably.
"The authorities are investigating that aspect of the case."
I turned back toward Daniel.
"You let me bury someone I didn't know."
He covered his face.
"I'm sorry."
"Stop saying that."
He lowered his hands.
For the first time, he looked directly into my eyes.
"Vanessa kept paying me to do things."
"Deliver documents."
"Move money."
"Watch people."
"She told me if I disappeared from her organization, she'd make sure you learned everything in the worst possible way."
I stared at him.
"You stayed with her to protect me?"
He hesitated.
Then slowly shook his head.
"No."
"I told myself that."
"But I stayed because I was afraid of going to prison."
His honesty hurt worse than the excuses.
"Tell me about Olivia."
Daniel swallowed.
"Vanessa said Olivia had discovered financial irregularities at the foundation."
"She said Olivia was planning to contact investigators."
"She wanted her frightened enough to stop asking questions."
"What did you do?"
"I drove the SUV."
My hands curled into fists.
"I was supposed to force her toward the shoulder and make her think she was being followed."
"Then Adrian told me to make contact with her car."
"He said she would slow down and pull over."
I could hardly speak.
"And when she didn't?"
Daniel stared at the floor.
"I saw her lose control."
"I saw her hit the barrier."
"I knew she could die."
He began crying.
"I drove away."
I stepped backward.
There it was.
The truth.
He had left a woman dying beside a highway because saving her might have exposed him.
"Her brakes were damaged," I whispered.
Daniel nodded.
"I found out later."
"Adrian had hired a mechanic to tamper with them."
"Marco let him into the garage."
I thought of Olivia learning to stand again.
I thought of the pain she endured without complaint.
And I looked at my husband with a feeling I had never expected.
Disgust.
"Did you know about the brakes before the accident?"
"No."
"But you knew you were terrorizing her."
"Yes."
"And you abandoned her."
He bowed his head.
"Yes."
I picked up our wedding photograph.
Then I placed it facedown on the table.
"You didn't just betray me, Daniel."
"You helped destroy an innocent woman's life."
I turned toward the door.
"Claire, wait."
I stopped without looking back.
"There's something else."
His voice was shaking.
"Vanessa kept a list."
"A list of people who could expose her."
"Olivia was first."
My blood chilled.
"Who was second?"
May you like
Daniel looked at me with tears in his eyes.
"You."
