Chapter 7 - I WENT BACK
By noon, Martin had contacted investigators.
By one o'clock, the county clerk had preserved the original electronic submission records.
The IP address used to file the forged postnuptial document traced back to Derek's family mansion.
The document had been uploaded from Brenda's desktop computer.
Martin advised me not to return.
I returned anyway.
Not alone.
Two investigators waited down the road.
Martin sat beside me.
Natalie remained in a second car with my father.
I needed something inside the mansion.
My laptop backup drive.
It contained years of company records.
More importantly, it contained the original metadata from every legal document I had signed during the wedding weekend.
If Derek tried to claim I had signed his forged papers voluntarily, that drive could help destroy the lie.
We pulled through the gates at 2:17.
The mansion looked completely different in daylight.
Yesterday it had been decorated with flowers.
Champagne.
White ribbons.
Today it looked like a stage after the audience had gone home.
Derek opened the front door before I knocked.
He had changed clothes.
Fresh shirt.
Perfect hair.
Calm smile.
The husband mask was back.
“Hi.”
I almost admired the performance.
“I'm collecting my property.”
His eyes moved to Martin.
“You brought him.”
“Yes.”
Derek opened the door wider.
“Fine.”
The house was strangely quiet.
“Where is everyone?”
“Gone.”
“Your mother?”
“Shopping.”
I did not believe him.
Martin did not either.
We walked upstairs.
Derek followed.
At the bedroom, the deadbolt was open.
He leaned against the frame.
“You're really going to throw away our marriage over one argument?”
I turned toward him.
“One argument?”
“You threw a towel.”
“I tried to make a point.”
“What point?”
“That marriage requires responsibility.”
Martin remained silent.
Derek hated that.
“You don't need a lawyer standing here listening to private conversations.”
“Yes, I do.”
His smile disappeared.
I opened the desk drawer.
Empty.
My backup drive had been there.
I checked again.
Nothing.
“Where is it?”
Derek shrugged.
“Where is what?”
“My external drive.”
“No idea.”
I turned.
“You moved it.”
“You're accusing me of theft now?”
Martin finally spoke.
“She asked where her property is.”
Derek smiled.
“And I answered.”
Then I noticed something behind him.
A faint blinking light inside the smoke detector.
I had installed enough security systems in commercial buildings to recognize it immediately.
Camera.
I looked around.
Another tiny lens reflected from the bookshelf.
Derek followed my gaze.
Too late.
“You recorded this room.”
He straightened.
“For security.”
“You recorded our bedroom?”
He said nothing.
I walked toward the bookshelf.
“Don't touch that.”
There was panic in his voice now.
Which meant I absolutely needed to touch it.
I reached behind the books.
My fingers found a small recording unit.
Derek lunged forward.
Martin stepped between us.
“Do not touch my client.”
Derek froze.
I pulled the unit free.
The memory card was still inside.
I smiled.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For saving evidence.”
His face turned gray.
Because whatever Derek had recorded in this room had not simply captured me.
It had captured him.
May you like
And when we later reviewed the footage, we discovered exactly what he had done while I slept the night after our wedding.
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