Mark’s face went very still.
Across the room, Vanessa turned from the window.
“What?” she said.
Nobody answered her.
“What messages?” she said again, louder. “Mark, what is he talking about?”
“It’s nothing,” Mark said. “It’s taken out of context.”
Officer Hale held up his phone. “Ma’am, is this your phone number?”
He read it aloud.
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“Did you write this? ‘And you’re sure about the lease thing?’”
Vanessa’s face changed.
I watched it happen. The confusion. Then the slow, sickening understanding.
“He told me she signed it,” she said quietly.
Mark said, “Vanessa—”
“You told me she signed it.” She turned toward him. “You said you two worked it out. You said the lease was real. When I asked about it, you told me she’d agreed and it was a formality. You said she wanted us to have the house because she felt bad about taking all the money in the divorce.”
