something.”
“Laura, I don’t want to do this over the phone.”
Charity & Philanthropy
“Then tell me who Lily was.”
“I don’t know. But there was someone Daniel knew when he was young.”
“Who?”
“A friend. Michael.”
The name stirred a faint memory.
Daniel had mentioned Michael only a few times, never fondly.
“He stole from Daniel.”
She went silent.
Pregnancy & Maternity
“Didn’t he?”
“I don’t know what happened between them.”
Whatever she knew, she had hidden it for a reason.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’ve told you what I know.”
“No. Four years ago, you told me Lily was his cousin because you wanted me to stop asking questions.”
“I didn’t know what else to say.”
There it was.
An admission.
“Why?”
“I have to go.”
“Who was Michael?”
She hung up.
I stared at my phone.
Daniel’s mother and I had never been close, but this went beyond that.
Why would she
help hide Daniel’s affair?
And where did Michael fit?
Charity & Philanthropy
Was he Rebecca’s brother?
Had he helped Daniel conceal everything?
I reopened my laptop.
Nearly an hour later, an old article finally gave me Michael’s surname.
Michael H.
Daniel C.
Business partners.
Baby & Pet Names
Another article said their company had closed following a “financial dispute between its founders.”
“What did you do, Daniel?”
I searched Michael H.
His obituary appeared.
Then I saw the date.
“No. That’s not possible.”
Daniel had always told me Michael died before we met.
Obituaries
According to the obituary, Michael died eight months after our first date.
Same name.
Age.
Town.
Same man.
“So you lied about that too.”
I continued searching.
A car accident.
Several business filings.
Then an archived document stopped me.
Rebecca H.
“Wait.”
I read it again.
“Rebecca…?”
She wasn’t some distant relative.
She had been Michael’s wife.
Marriage
“So that’s why the company fell apart.”
I stared at Daniel’s name on the screen.
“You were sleeping with your partner’s wife? God, Daniel. That’s disgusting.”
Bereavement counseling services
I searched their names together.
An old address appeared.
Then a newer one.
“Found you.”
I grabbed my keys.
—
Rebecca lived forty minutes away.
She opened the door and froze when she saw me.
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
“Laura?”
“So this is where you disappeared to.”
Her face went pale.
“How did you find me?”
“Michael.”
For the first time, fear crossed Rebecca’s face.
“Who told you that name?”
“Daniel’s mother.”
She shut her eyes.
“Of course.”
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca glanced behind her, then moved aside.
“You should come in.”
That frightened me more than having the door slammed in my face.
And what I discovered inside would prove almost everything I’d assumed was wrong.
She led me into the living room.
I remained standing.
I dropped the transfer records onto the coffee
