Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE CREAM ROBE
At 6:05 the next morning, Katherine was sitting in Rachel's law office with cold coffee and a list of transactions that should not have existed.
The emergency banking team had managed to stop the second transfer twelve minutes before it entered final settlement.
The first $875,000 was already gone.
Rachel had contacted the bank's fraud division, a forensic accountant, and a judge who handled emergency civil motions.
Katherine had spent the night signing affidavits.
She had also learned that Northstar Advisory Holdings had been formed only six weeks earlier.
Its registered address was a mailbox center in Delaware.
Its managing member was hidden behind another company.
Rachel slid a printed report across the table.
"This is not something Daniel invented last night."
Katherine looked at the formation date.
"He started this before our anniversary."
"Long before."
Rachel tapped another page.
"And whoever set this up knew exactly which accounts required two signatures."
Katherine rubbed her temples.
"Daniel knows."
"Daniel also knows your signature."
Katherine looked toward the window.
Morning traffic moved below them as if the city had no idea her life had changed overnight.
"I still don't understand Ava."
Rachel had already started searching.
"Ava Monroe."
She rotated her laptop.
A professional profile filled the screen.
Ava was twenty-eight.
She had worked in luxury hospitality before joining a private event firm called Bellamy House Events.
Bellamy House had coordinated the Cole anniversary party.
Katherine stared at the photograph.
The woman wore the same composed expression Katherine remembered from behind the bathroom door.
"She planned my anniversary."
Rachel nodded.
"Apparently she personally handled several parts of it."
Katherine remembered Daniel insisting on taking over the event arrangements.
He said Katherine had enough to do.
He said he wanted the night to be a gift to her.
The irony made her almost laugh.
"How long has she known him?"
Rachel clicked through archived company posts.
One photograph showed Daniel at a hotel opening ten months earlier.
Ava stood three people away from him.
Another showed a charity planning committee six months ago.
Ava was beside Daniel this time.
Another showed a private dinner.
Daniel's hand rested casually against the back of Ava's chair.
Katherine stared at the image.
"Six months."
"At least."
The office phone rang.
Rachel answered and listened.
"Send him in."
A security officer from Katherine's mansion entered carrying a sealed envelope.
His name was Marcus Lee.
He had worked the night shift at the property for four years.
Katherine stood.
"Marcus, what happened after I left?"
He looked uncomfortable.
"Mr. Cole dismissed half the staff around one in the morning."
"Dismissed for the night?"
"No, ma'am."
Marcus glanced at Rachel.
"Fired."
Katherine's face tightened.
"Who?"
"Anyone who was upstairs when the bathroom doors opened."
Rachel sat forward.
"Names."
Marcus gave them.
Two servers.
A housekeeper.
A bartender.
One of the security technicians.
Katherine understood immediately.
"Witnesses."
Marcus nodded.
"That's what I thought."
He placed the envelope on the table.
"This came for you at the house."
Katherine looked at the return address.
It was from Daniel's attorney.
Rachel opened it with Katherine's permission.
Inside was a formal notice stating that Katherine's access to the marital residence had been temporarily restricted because Daniel feared "escalating confrontational behavior."
Rachel's eyebrows rose.
"He cannot legally lock you out of your own house without an order."
Marcus shifted.
"He changed the gate codes anyway."
Katherine looked at him.
"Did he change the camera system?"
Marcus hesitated.
That hesitation answered the question.
"At three fourteen this morning, Mr. Cole told the technician to wipe the upstairs hallway recordings."
Katherine felt anger for the first time since leaving the mansion.
Not grief.
Not shock.
Anger.
"Were they wiped?"
Marcus looked toward the office door before answering.
"The main server was."
Rachel caught the phrasing.
"The main server."
Marcus nodded.
"Our system also keeps a rolling backup for forty-eight hours on an off-site maintenance account."
Katherine stepped closer.
"Do you have access?"
"I did until this morning."
"Did you download anything?"
Marcus swallowed.
"I downloaded the corridor feed before Mr. Cole's technician changed my permissions."
Katherine stared at him.
Marcus removed a small encrypted drive from his jacket.
"I wasn't sure whether I should bring it."
Rachel extended her hand.
"You absolutely should have."
Marcus did not give it to her yet.
"There's something else."
Katherine waited.
"The camera outside the bathroom does not have audio."
"Then what else?"
"The upstairs office does."
Katherine's expression changed.
The upstairs office belonged to Daniel.
It was where he took private calls during parties.
Marcus continued.
"Mr. Cole and Ms. Monroe were in there together before you found them."
Rachel stood.
"How do you know?"
Marcus looked at Katherine.
"Because I checked the time stamps after the party ended."
He finally placed the drive in Rachel's hand.
"You need to hear what they said."
They connected the drive to a laptop that was not linked to any company network.
Rachel made a forensic copy before opening anything.
The corridor video began first.
At 8:31 p.m., Daniel entered his office.
Ava followed him thirty seconds later.
They remained inside for eleven minutes.
At 8:43 p.m., they came out separately.
Daniel looked down the hallway, then motioned toward the bathroom.
Ava followed.
Katherine appeared four minutes later.
The recording showed her stop near the doors.
It showed her listening.
It showed her face harden.
It showed her closing the glass doors after Daniel and Ava were already inside.
It showed something else too.
Katherine had not noticed Ava carrying a slim leather folder under her arm.
She had taken it into the bathroom.
When the doors opened in front of the guests, the folder was no longer visible.
Rachel rewound the footage.
"What is that?"
"I don't know."
They switched to the office recording.
The audio was faint but clear enough.
Daniel's voice came first.
"Tomorrow morning is the point of no return."
Katherine's skin prickled.
Ava answered.
"And if she notices the transfer tonight?"
Daniel laughed softly.
"She won't."
"You sound very sure."
"She'll be downstairs entertaining eighty people and pretending our marriage is perfect."
Katherine felt as though she had been struck.
Rachel raised a hand, signaling her to keep listening.
Ava spoke again.
"What if she checks her email?"
Daniel answered without hesitation.
"I changed the notification settings."
Katherine closed her eyes.
Ava lowered her voice.
"And after tomorrow?"
"After tomorrow, the foundation money is out of reach."
There was a pause.
Then Ava said something Katherine did not understand.
"What about the evaluation?"
Daniel answered.
"Margaret has the doctor ready."
Rachel looked sharply at Katherine.
The recording continued.
Ava sounded uneasy now.
"You really think Katherine will agree to an evaluation after you move the money?"
Daniel chuckled.
"She won't have to agree if she gives us a reason tonight."
Silence followed.
Then Ava whispered.
"You said you only needed her to make a scene."
Daniel's voice became colder.
"I need witnesses who can say she was irrational, aggressive, and unstable."
Katherine stared at the laptop.
The anniversary party had not simply been the place where she caught Daniel cheating.
Daniel had expected a confrontation.
He had wanted one.
Rachel paused the recording.
"He wanted you to explode."
Katherine thought about the bathroom.
Daniel had not looked frightened when she first locked the door.
He had looked irritated.
Then, when guests arrived, he had suddenly started begging.
Maybe the begging had not been for Katherine.
Maybe it had been for the audience.
Rachel pressed play.
The next part was quieter.
Ava said, "And if she stays calm?"
Daniel replied almost immediately.
"She won't."
Ava gave a nervous laugh.
"You don't know that."
"I know my wife."
The words hung in the office.
Katherine stared at the frozen image of Daniel's empty study.
He had built the entire night around the belief that he understood exactly how much pain it would take to make her lose control.
He had been wrong.
Rachel resumed the recording.
Daniel said, "By breakfast, I will have control of the accounts."
Ava asked, "And the house?"
Daniel answered, "That is already handled."
Katherine turned toward Rachel.
"What does that mean?"
Rachel did not answer.
She opened the county property database.
The mansion had been purchased eight years earlier in both their names.
At least that was what Katherine remembered signing.
Rachel searched the current deed.
Her expression changed.
"Katherine."
"What?"
Rachel rotated the screen.
A transfer deed had been recorded three weeks earlier.
The property was no longer titled to Katherine and Daniel Cole.
It now belonged to an entity called Bellweather Residential Trust.
Katherine's name appeared at the bottom of the recorded transfer.
Her signature looked perfect.
She had never seen the document before in her life.
The trustee listed for Bellweather Residential Trust was Margaret Cole.
Katherine whispered the name.
"His mother."
Rachel's jaw tightened.
Katherine's phone rang again.
This time the number was unfamiliar.
She answered cautiously.
A woman's voice spoke before Katherine could say hello.
"Mrs. Cole?"
Katherine recognized it immediately.
Ava Monroe.
For several seconds, neither woman said anything.
Then Ava whispered.
"Daniel doesn't know I'm calling you."
Katherine stood so quickly her chair rolled backward.
"What do you want?"
Ava's breathing was uneven.
"You need to stop looking at the money."
Katherine's expression hardened.
"Why?"
Ava lowered her voice further.
May you like
"Because the money is not what he's most afraid you'll find."
The line went dead.
