Natalie sitting in a parked vehicle across from Laura's office.
The second box contained notebooks.
Laura had documented everything.
Natalie asking about my work schedule.
Natalie questioning when Sophie stayed with grandparents.
Natalie repeatedly telling Laura that motherhood had “changed” her.
Laura finding Natalie alone inside Sophie’s bedroom.
Laura discovering that several family photographs had disappeared.
Then I reached the final notebook.
The last pages were hurried.
Natalie knows I’m documenting her.
She confronted me tonight.
She said Ethan will never believe me because grief makes people choose whoever offers comfort.
Another entry appeared two days later.
She knows about the recordings.
I need another copy somewhere she cannot find.
Then the final entry.
If anything happens to me, Sophie is the reason.
Protect her first.
I sat on the concrete floor of that storage unit and cried.
Not the controlled crying of funerals.
Not the quiet tears that come in the shower where nobody sees.
I cried like something inside me had finally split open.
Laura had spent her last weeks afraid.
And I had noticed nothing.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a woman said, “You found the locker.”
I stood.
“Who is this?”
“Someone Laura trusted.”
“Where is Natalie?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who are you?”
A pause.
“Dr. Maya Bennett.”
Laura’s cardiologist.
We met that afternoon in a nearly empty diner twenty miles outside town.
Maya looked exhausted.
“You knew Laura was afraid of Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“Laura begged me not to involve you until she had proof.”
“She’s dead.”
Maya lowered her eyes.
“I know.”
“You attended her funeral.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“I know.”
“What happened?”
Maya reached into her bag.
She placed another envelope on the table.
“I’ve carried this for sixteen months.”
I stared at it.
“Why?”
“Cowardice.”
At least she didn’t pretend otherwise.
The letter inside was also from Laura.
It told me Natalie did not simply envy our marriage.