Chapter 7 - THE THIRD VERSION OF THE TRUTH
For ten minutes, I stared at Michael's message without answering.
Jenna stood beside me in the parking lot.
"Do you believe him?"
I looked at her.
"I don't know what belief means anymore."
That was not self-pity.
It was a practical problem.
Michael lied.
Diane lied.
Lauren lied.
Even silence had been used as a weapon by people I trusted.
I called Rebecca back outside.
She read Michael's message.
"Do not tell him what you know."
"He already knows something."
"Then let him guess how much."
I nodded.
"What about Lauren?"
Rebecca considered that.
"Assume every person involved is protecting themselves."
That sentence became my rule.
I texted Lauren one question.
DID YOU WORK FOR DIANE BEFORE MICHAEL CONTACTED YOU?
She replied almost immediately.
NO.
Then another message came.
WHY ARE YOU ASKING?
I did not respond.
Michael called twice.
I ignored both calls.
Then he sent a photograph.
It showed Lauren sitting across from Diane at a restaurant.
The timestamp was from November.
Three months before Lauren claimed Michael first contacted her.
My mouth went dry.
Jenna looked over my shoulder.
"That could mean anything."
"It means she lied about not knowing Diane."
The photograph had clearly been taken from across the restaurant.
I zoomed in.
Diane was leaning toward Lauren.
A folder sat on the table between them.
I recognized the restaurant.
It was a steakhouse in Naperville where Diane held business lunches.
I forwarded the photo to Rebecca.
Then I called Lauren.
She answered with a cautious hello.
"November."
Silence.
"Naperville."
Another silence.
"Steakhouse."
Lauren exhaled.
"Claire."
"Do not say my name like we're sisters right now."
She started crying.
I was getting tired of tears from people who had made deliberate choices.
"Tell me why you were meeting Diane three months before Michael supposedly called you."
Lauren did not answer.
"If you lie again, I give the flash drive to my attorney and you hear from me only through her."
"I met Diane about a job."
"What job?"
"Consulting."
My chest tightened.
"For Carter Development?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she asked me not to."
I laughed bitterly.
"Of course she did."
Lauren rushed on.
"She said Michael wanted to surprise you if it worked out."
"Did Michael know?"
"I don't think so."
"What did Diane ask you to do?"
Lauren hesitated.
"Review vendor payments."
I looked at Jenna.
That matched the later story about shell vendors.
But now Diane was the one who initiated it.
"So Diane hired you to investigate Diane?"
"Not exactly."
"Then exactly what?"
Lauren's breathing became uneven.
"She told me she thought someone inside the company was stealing."
"Who?"
"Michael."
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
A third version of the same story.
Michael told Lauren Diane was stealing.
Diane told Lauren Michael was stealing.
Lauren had placed herself between them and apparently believed whichever version served her at the moment.
"What did you find?"
"Transfers from accounts Michael controlled."
"To where?"
"Some went to real expenses."
"And the rest?"
"Personal accounts."
"Whose?"
Lauren whispered.
"Michael's."
I leaned against my car.
"How much?"
"About ninety thousand over two years."
I stared at the pavement.
"Did Diane know?"
"I showed her."
"When?"
"December."
"Then what?"
"She told me to keep investigating."
"Did she pay you?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Twelve thousand dollars."
I laughed in disbelief.
"So you did take money from her."
"For work."
"Work you hid from me."
"Yes."
"Then Michael contacted you in January."
"Yes."
"And told you Diane was stealing."
"Yes."
"Did you tell him Diane had hired you?"
Lauren hesitated.
"Not immediately."
I almost admired the consistency of her bad decisions.
"When did you tell him?"
"After we started seeing each other."
"Seeing each other is a very gentle phrase for what you did."
Lauren went quiet.
"When exactly?"
"March."
"What did Michael do when you told him?"
"He got furious."
"At Diane?"
"At first."
"Then?"
Lauren's voice dropped.
"At me."
"Why?"
"He said Diane had used me to spy on him."
"Was she?"
"Yes."
The answer was immediate.
"And then you kept sleeping with him."
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
"Why?"
Lauren began crying again.
"Because by then I thought he was trapped too."
"Lauren, he was married to me."
"I know."
"He was not trapped in a hotel room with you."
She said nothing.
"He was not trapped when he lied to me every Thursday."
Still nothing.
"He was not trapped when he let his mother use my signature."
Lauren inhaled sharply.
"He told me he didn't know she forged the loan until afterward."
I stared at the phone.
"That's what he told you?"
"Yes."
"Then why was he searching my office for the folder?"
Lauren had no answer.
I ended the call.
Rebecca arranged a controlled meeting with Michael for the following afternoon.
He wanted to talk about the trust.
I wanted to hear which version of the truth he would choose when lawyers were present.
We met at Rebecca's office.
Michael arrived with an attorney named David Kline.
He looked terrible.
His shirt was wrinkled.
He had not shaved.
For a fraction of a second, I remembered loving him.
Then I remembered Lauren in his car.
The feeling disappeared.
Michael sat across from me.
"How's Emma?"
I looked at Rebecca.
She answered for me.
"Emma is safe."
Michael's jaw tightened.
"I was asking my wife."
"Your wife is represented."
David touched Michael's arm.
"Let's stay on topic."
Michael looked at me.
"I made mistakes."
I said nothing.
"The affair was a mistake."
Still nothing.
"A terrible one."
I watched him struggle with my silence.
He was used to me filling gaps.
Apologizing.
Softening.
Making conversations easier.
I had no intention of helping him now.
"I ended it with Lauren."
I finally spoke.
"When?"
"Last week."
That surprised me.
"Before Sunday dinner?"
"Yes."
"Then why was she calling you?"
His eyes flickered.
"I don't know."
I almost laughed.
"You still can't do it."
"Do what?"
"Tell the truth when the lie would be easier to check."
Michael looked at his attorney.
David said nothing.
I leaned forward.
"Lauren called because there was something else she wanted to tell you."
Michael's face changed.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
But I saw it.
He knew what I meant.
"What did she tell you?"
"Nothing yet."
He looked away.
I stored that reaction for later.
Rebecca redirected the conversation.
"Mr. Carter, you said you needed to discuss the family trust."
Michael nodded.
"My mother cannot know Claire has seen it."
"Why?"
"Because she'll panic."
I laughed softly.
"She already tried to take Emma out of school."
Michael flinched.
"I didn't tell her to do that."
"You knew she was going."
"I thought she was checking on Emma."
"At a school where she has no pickup authorization."
Michael rubbed his forehead.
"I know how it looks."
"Stop saying that."
He looked up.
"Stop saying what?"
"I know how it looks."
My voice stayed calm.
"It looks bad because it is bad."
He lowered his eyes.
Rebecca placed a copy of the forged loan application on the table.
"Did you sign or authorize Mrs. Carter's name on this document?"
David immediately intervened.
"My client is not answering questions about potential criminal liability in this meeting."
Michael looked at the page.
His face tightened.
I did not need the answer anymore.
The lawyer had answered for him.
Rebecca continued.
"Did you know this document existed before Sunday night?"
David repeated the objection.
Michael suddenly spoke anyway.
"Yes."
His attorney turned sharply.
"Michael."
Michael ignored him.
He looked at me.
"I knew about it."
My heart pounded.
"Did you know my signature wasn't mine?"
David started again.
Michael raised a hand.
"Yes."
The room went completely still.
There are moments when rage is too large to feel like rage.
It becomes emptiness.
That was what happened to me.
I looked at the man I had slept beside for three years.
"You knew."
"I found out after Mom submitted it."
"And you did what?"
"I told her to stop the loan."
Rebecca looked at the paperwork.
"Was it stopped?"
Michael hesitated.
"I thought it was."
I laughed.
"You thought."
"Claire, I swear."
"Do not swear to me."
He stopped.
"You knew my signature had been forged, and you didn't tell me."
"I was trying to fix it without blowing up everything."
"Everything blew up anyway."
Michael's eyes filled with tears.
I felt nothing.
"Why did your mother need the money?"
He looked at David.
His attorney said nothing this time.
Michael exhaled.
"The company is in trouble."
"I know."
He looked surprised.
"How much do you know?"
"Enough."
Michael leaned back.
"Then you know my mother has been moving money for years."
"And so have you."
He stared at me.
"Lauren told you that."
"The records told me that."
His jaw clenched.
"Lauren is not innocent."
"Neither are you."
He flinched.
"She was working for my mother before she ever came to me."
"I know."
Michael looked genuinely surprised.
"She told you?"
"Eventually."
I leaned forward.
"Here's what I want to know."
He waited.
"Why did you sleep with her after you knew your mother was using her to spy on you?"
Michael looked down.
"I don't know."
"That's not true."
"I was angry."
"At whom?"
"Everyone."
I almost smiled.
"So you punished me."
"No."
"You punished me because you were angry at your mother and attracted to my sister."
"It wasn't about you."
The instant he said it, his face changed.
He realized how cruel it sounded.
I nodded slowly.
"That's the first completely honest thing you've said."
Michael covered his face.
The meeting ended shortly afterward.
As I stood, Michael called my name.
I turned.
"I never wanted the loan to go through."
"Then prove it."
He stared at me.
"How?"
"Give Rebecca everything."
"Bank logins."
"Emails."
"Messages with Diane."
"All of it."
Michael looked terrified again.
"If I do that, my mother could go to prison."
I picked up my purse.
"Then maybe she should have thought about that before she used my name."
I walked out.
Two hours later, Lauren sent me an audio file.
No explanation.
Just a recording dated three months earlier.
I put on headphones before playing it.
Diane's voice came through first.
"Claire will never agree to put the house into the business."
Michael answered.
"Then we don't use the house."
Diane laughed.
"You have copies of her old signatures."
My breath stopped.
May you like
Then Michael said something I will never forget.
"Mom, if you do this, you make sure it can't come back on me."
