Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Downtown Apartment
Jessica called me at 6:17 the next morning.
She was crying.
And the first thing she said was, “Rose, I think Thomas is going to ruin both our lives.”
I sat up in bed.
I'd slept in the guest room with the door locked.
Thomas hadn't come home.
“Jessica?”
“Please don't hang up.”
I glanced at the clock.
“What do you want?”
“I need to tell you something.”
I thought about the messages on the iPad.
The apartment.
The expensive trips.
The way my husband had described me as clueless.
“Then tell me.”
She took a shaky breath.
“I'm not pregnant.”
I closed my eyes.
“Thomas told me you were.”
“I know. He told me what he sent you.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants you to stop looking into the business.”
That woke me completely.
“What business?”
“Carolina Meridian.”
I sat upright.
“How do you know about that company?”
There was a long silence.
Then she said, “I work with Gregory Vale.”
Of course.
Medical sales.
Medical equipment distribution.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
“Jessica, did Thomas introduce you to Gregory?”
“No. Gregory introduced me to Thomas.”
I gripped the phone.
“Why?”
“Can we meet somewhere?”
I hesitated.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
Her answer surprised me.
“But I can prove something Thomas doesn't want you to know.”
We met at a coffee shop near Freedom Park.
I arrived early and chose a table near the front windows.
Jessica entered ten minutes later.
She was younger than I'd imagined.
Pretty.
Exhausted.
Her eyes were swollen, and she kept checking her phone.
She sat across from me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Finally, she whispered, “I'm sorry.”
I looked at her.
“For sleeping with my husband?”
She nodded.
“For helping him lie?”
Another nod.
“For spending money he took from our savings?”
She began crying.
I felt no satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
“Jessica, I'm not here to make you feel better.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
She removed a small flash drive from her purse.
“Gregory's company has been buying equipment through Carolina Meridian.”
“What equipment?”
“Hospital monitoring systems. Diagnostic machines. Some specialized imaging components.”
“Legitimate purchases?”
“Some.”
I waited.
She looked toward the window.
“Gregory told me Carolina Meridian was a financing company. Thomas handled the contracts, and Mike managed the banking relationships.”
“Where do I come in?”
Jessica swallowed.
“Your name is on the ownership documents.”
“I know.”
“He said you were the financial guarantor.”
“I never agreed to that.”
She looked miserable.
“I believe you.”
I leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas told me something last month.”
“What?”
“He said you'd never notice the paperwork because you trusted him with everything.”
I felt the familiar coldness settle in my chest.
“What is on that drive?”
“Copies of invoices, emails, and a spreadsheet I downloaded from the files I was authorized to access at work.”
I didn't touch it.
“Did you take anything you weren't allowed to?”
“No. They were in our shared sales folder. But I don't know whether I was allowed to copy them.”
“Then you need your own attorney. And Sarah needs to determine how to handle this.”
Jessica nodded.
“I understand.”
I studied her.
“Why are you doing this?”
She looked down at her hands.
“Because I found out about another woman.”
For the first time, I was speechless.
“Another woman?”
Jessica gave a broken laugh.
“Apparently, I wasn't special either.”
I wanted to ask who.
But she continued.
“Thomas has been seeing someone in Raleigh. I found hotel receipts and messages.”
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
I stared at her.
Jessica wiped her cheeks.
“I thought he was leaving you because he loved me.”
I looked at the woman who had helped destroy my marriage.
And suddenly, I saw something painfully familiar.
She had believed him.
Just as I had.
That didn't excuse her choices.
But it explained why Thomas had been so confident.
He didn't need women to be foolish.
He needed them to believe he was telling them the truth.
“What's her name?” I asked.
Jessica hesitated.
“Rebecca Shaw.”
The name sounded familiar.
Then I remembered.
Rebecca was a senior commercial lending officer.
She worked for the bank that had received the $950,000 application.
I stared at Jessica.
“Are you certain?”
She nodded.
“I saw messages between them.”
My phone vibrated.
A text from Sarah.
Call me immediately. We have a problem with the house.
I excused myself and stepped outside.
Sarah answered on the first ring.
“Rose, did you authorize a home equity line of credit last year?”
“No.”
“Did you sign a deed transferring any ownership interest?”
“Absolutely not.”
She exhaled.
“Then we need to move quickly.”
My heart pounded.
“What happened?”
“Paul found a recorded document that appears to transfer your interest in the Myers Park property into a trust.”
I gripped the phone.
“What trust?”
“The Whitaker Family Property Trust.”
I frowned.
“That's my maiden name.”
“I know.”
“Who controls it?”
Sarah paused.
“According to the paperwork, Thomas is the trustee.”
I stared across the street.
The morning traffic blurred.
“How much equity is left in the house?”
“We're still verifying the debt.”
“Sarah.”
Her voice softened.
“Rose, there's a recorded home equity security instrument for four hundred and twenty thousand dollars.”
I felt my knees weaken.
May you like
Then Sarah said something worse.
“The acknowledgment on the deed names a notary who died three years before the document was supposedly signed.”
