Chapter 10: The Last Night
I spent the rest of that day being careful.
I didn't pack.
I didn't move anything.
I left my suitcase exactly where it was, in the corner of the bedroom, with the false lining sitting flat and empty because everything that mattered had been in my bag for days.
At dinner I was pleasant.
I asked Derek about a property deal he'd mentioned earlier in the week.
He talked about it for twenty minutes.
Brenda watched me from across the table with eyes that hadn't fully relaxed since the study.
After dinner Derek poured two glasses of wine and handed me one.
"I want to apologize," he said, "for this morning.
The way I spoke to you was not acceptable."
I looked at the wine.
"Thank you," I said.
"I've been under pressure," he said.
"The business.
The family.
I took it out on you and that was wrong."
He was good at this.
I could see exactly why it had worked on Miriam.
On Carol.
Possibly on Sophie Aldren before her father intervened.
"I appreciate you saying that," I said.
"Can we start again?" he said.
"Tomorrow.
A proper day.
Just the two of us."
"I'd like that," I said.
I set the wine glass down without drinking from it.
We went to bed at ten.
Derek was asleep by eleven.
I lay still for an hour.
At midnight I got up, dressed quietly, picked up my bag, and walked to the bedroom door.
I opened it without a sound.
The hallway was dark.
I moved to the top of the stairs and stopped.
Brenda was sitting in the chair at the bottom of the staircase.
In the dark.
Waiting.
She looked up at me.
I looked down at her.
Neither of us spoke for a moment.
Then she said, "Where are you going, Chloe?"
"I couldn't sleep," I said.
"I was going to get some water."
"At midnight.
With your bag."
I came down the stairs slowly.
I stopped two steps from the bottom, which put us at eye level.
"I think we both know this isn't working," I said.
"Marriages take time," Brenda said.
"I've seen the profiles," I said.
"Mine.
Miriam's.
Carol's.
Sophie Aldren's."
Brenda's face didn't move.
"I've spoken to Miriam," I said.
"And to Carol.
And I have the recording from the dinner where you and Derek discussed my father's contracts."
A long silence.
"You've been busy," Brenda said finally.
"I have."
"What do you want?" she said.
It was a practical question.
No anger in it.
Just calculation.
"I want to leave," I said.
"Tonight.
And I want you to let me."
"And if I don't?"
"Then tomorrow morning my attorney files everything with the district attorney's office," I said.
"The financial records, the profiles, the recording, Miriam's documentation, Carol's testimony.
All of it."
Brenda was quiet.
"And if I do let you leave?" she said.
"Then my attorney still files everything," I said.
"Because this isn't about me anymore."
Something moved across Brenda's face.
For the first time since I had arrived in this house, she looked her age.
She stood up from the chair.
She stepped aside.
"Go," she said.
I walked past her to the front door.
My hand was on the handle when she spoke again.
"You're the first one who came prepared," she said.
"I want you to know that.
In case it matters to you."
I opened the door.
May you like
"It doesn't," I said.
And I walked out into the night.
