Chapter 3 - The Grave He Never Saw.
David was taken away through the same front door he had entered smiling only minutes earlier.
Julianne remained in the foyer.
Her shopping bags were still scattered across the marble floor.
A pair of expensive sandals had fallen from one bag.
A silk dress hung halfway out of another.
Objects from a vacation purchased during my daughter’s final days.
Agent Hale walked toward Julianne.
“Ms. Pierce, you are not currently under arrest.”
Her shoulders dropped slightly.
“But you are not free from this investigation.”
The relief disappeared immediately.
“I didn’t know about the company.”
“That remains to be determined.”
She looked at me.
“Maya.”
I turned away.
“Please.”
I didn’t want to hear her voice.
“I swear David told me Lily was okay.”
I faced her.
“You were sleeping with my husband.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
“You traveled internationally with him while he was married.”
“Yes.”
“You listened while his wife called fifty times.”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
“And at no point did you wonder why?”
Julianne wiped her face.
“He said you always did that.”
I almost admired the cruelty of David’s preparation.
He had apparently spent months convincing his mistress that I was unstable.
Every reaction I had was evidence.
Every question was control.
Every boundary was jealousy.
Every emergency was drama.
By the time Lily became critically ill, Julianne had already been trained not to believe me.
That didn’t make her innocent.
But it revealed something darker about David.
He had built his excuses before he needed them.
Agent Hale gave Julianne a card.
“You need an attorney.”
She took it with trembling fingers.
Then she walked toward the door.
Before leaving, she stopped.
“There’s something you should know.”
Agent Hale looked at her.
Julianne hesitated.
“David had another phone.”
Silence filled the foyer.
“What phone?”
“A black satellite phone.”
My heart began pounding.
“He kept it in the yacht’s bedroom safe.”
Agent Hale’s expression sharpened.
“Did you use it?”
“No.”
“Did you see him use it?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Julianne looked at me.
“The night Maya kept calling.”
I felt cold.
“What was he doing?”
“He went onto the rear deck.”
“For almost twenty minutes.”
“When he came back, he looked nervous.”
David had claimed he was detoxing.
But apparently his digital detox only applied to his wife and dying daughter.
Agent Hale asked the obvious question.
“Who did he call?”
Julianne shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Then she added something.
“But afterward, he told me we needed to stay in the Bahamas longer.”
Agent Hale exchanged a glance with one of the troopers.
The federal case had just changed.
Again.
After everyone finally left, I stood alone inside the mansion.
My footsteps echoed.
Two weeks earlier, Lily’s toys had been everywhere.
A stuffed rabbit on the sofa.
Colored pencils across the kitchen counter.
Tiny sneakers near the stairs.
Now there was nothing.
I walked upstairs.
Her bedroom was empty too.
Everything had been moved into secure storage at my attorney’s recommendation.
Except one thing.
I opened my purse.
Inside was a folded photograph from Lily’s funeral.
Her white casket.
Pink roses.
A little wooden butterfly I had placed on top.
I sat on the floor where her bed used to be.
For the first time since David returned, I allowed myself to cry.
“You deserved a father who answered.”
The empty room gave me no reply.
Then my phone rang.
Agent Hale.
“Maya.”
His voice was urgent.
“We located records from the satellite phone.”
I stopped crying.
“Who did David call?”
There was a pause.
“His chief financial officer.”
“And Maya?”
“Yes?”
May you like
“The call began six minutes after David read your ICU voicemail.”
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