GRANT KNEW SOMETHING
I leaned back against the pillows.
What did he tell you?
Grant called.
“He said you were feeling better and told him to go.”
“He lied.”
“I figured.”
That surprised me.
“You did?”
“Because he called me Thursday night.”
My chest tightened.
“What did he say?”
Grant lowered his voice.
“He asked if I thought Mom would be angry if he skipped the weekend.”
I sat completely still.
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him your health should come first.”
My eyes burned.
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Yeah. I know.’”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Grant said something that changed everything.
“There was another reason he didn’t want to stay home.”
“What reason?”
“I don’t know for sure.”
“Grant.”
“I saw something in his truck before he left.”
“What?”
“A folder.”
My pulse quickened.
“What kind of folder?”
“White. Legal-looking. Your name was written across the front.”
I sat upright too quickly.
The room spun.
I grabbed the edge of the mattress.
“Claire?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
I waited until the dizziness passed.
“Did you open it?”
“No.”
“Did you see what was inside?”
“Only the first page.”
“What did it say?”
Grant hesitated.
“Something about the house.”
My heart began pounding.
Our house.
The one we had bought together six years earlier.
The one my grandmother had left me a substantial inheritance to help purchase.
The one I had always thought was protected because my name was on the deed.
“Why would Nolan have legal papers about our house?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked across the bedroom.
Then at the suitcase.
Then at the anniversary schedule.
The note in Nolan’s handwriting suddenly felt different.
If Claire is still sick, leave by 1:15 without her.
He hadn’t simply planned to abandon me for a family celebration.
He had planned for me to be out of the way.
