Chapter 7 - What Lauren Tried to Sell.
By seven the next morning, Emily had already spoken to a lawyer.
Her name was Dana Whitmore, a commercial litigator recommended by one of Emily's coworkers.
Dana did not waste time with sympathy.
She asked for documents, dates, bank statements, and copies of every message Emily could preserve.
"Do not delete anything."
"I won't."
"Do not threaten anyone."
"I won't."
"And do not let your husband access your devices."
Emily looked across the kitchen at Michael, who had finally fallen asleep on the couch.
"That won't happen."
Dana advised her to contact the bank's fraud department and place a formal dispute on the collateral authorization.
She also warned that Michael and Lauren might react unpredictably once they realized Emily had counsel.
"People behave differently when a private lie becomes a documented problem."
Emily understood that immediately.
At eight twenty, she called Commonwealth Harbor Bank.
By nine fifteen, the Cedar Ridge credit line had been flagged for review.
No further draws would be permitted without additional authorization.
Michael woke to the news and exploded.
"You froze it?"
"I disputed it."
"The contractor payment is due tomorrow."
"Not my problem."
"It becomes your problem if they file liens."
"Against Cedar Ridge, not against me."
Michael stared at her.
"You don't understand how this works."
"Then explain it to my attorney."
The word attorney changed him.
His anger vanished.
"You hired a lawyer?"
"Yes."
"Without talking to me?"
Emily almost smiled.
"You replaced a signature page without talking to me."
He looked away.
Evelyn had gone home at dawn, promising to send Emily every message Michael had sent asking for money.
Emily did not trust Evelyn, but she trusted documents.
At ten, the anonymous sender emailed again.
This time there was no photograph.
There was an address.
A storage facility in Waltham.
Unit 319.
Emily forwarded it to Dana.
Dana responded within minutes.
Do not go alone.
Emily had no intention of going alone.
She asked her friend Rachel Monroe, a former coworker who now ran corporate security for a medical company, to meet her there.
Rachel arrived in a gray SUV and listened without interrupting as Emily explained the previous night.
"Your husband and your sister?"
"At minimum."
"And somebody anonymous wants you to find a storage unit."
"Yes."
Rachel stared at Emily for a long moment.
"Your life got very strange overnight."
"It was strange before."
Emily looked toward the storage building.
"I just didn't know it."
The front office manager would not open Unit 319 for them.
The lease was under Northstar Advisory LLC.
Lauren's company.
Emily showed him the photograph of the trust assignment but got nowhere.
Rachel asked a better question.
"Can you confirm whether the unit is active?"
The manager checked his computer.
"It's active through the end of next month."
Emily asked when it had been rented.
He hesitated.
"I can't give account details."
Dana called the facility directly twenty minutes later and explained that a preservation notice was being prepared.
The manager became more cooperative without technically revealing protected information.
He confirmed that security footage existed and would be retained.
Then Emily saw a familiar car enter the parking lot.
Lauren's white Audi.
Emily's heart began pounding.
Rachel touched her arm.
"Do not confront her in the parking lot."
Lauren parked near Building C.
She wore sunglasses and a long tan coat despite the warm morning.
She opened her trunk and removed two cardboard boxes.
Emily watched from Rachel's SUV.
"She's moving things."
Rachel took photographs with her phone.
Lauren carried the boxes inside.
Ten minutes later, she returned with a black document case.
Emily recognized it instantly.
It had belonged to their father.
He used to carry trust papers in it when he met with accountants.
Emily's hands shook.
"That was Dad's."
Lauren placed the case in her trunk.
Rachel kept taking photos.
Emily called Dana.
"My sister is removing documents from the storage unit right now."
Dana's voice sharpened.
"Do not interfere."
"She's taking my father's files."
"I understand."
"She could destroy them."
"Then we document that she possessed them."
Lauren drove away.
Emily wanted to follow.
Rachel refused.
"You already have more than you had an hour ago."
Emily hated the logic, but she knew it was correct.
They waited another thirty minutes.
Then the facility manager walked out to Rachel's SUV.
He looked uncomfortable.
"I didn't tell you this."
Emily waited.
"The unit was rented under Northstar, but the access code was created for two people."
"Who?"
"I can't give names."
"Can you tell me if one is Michael Carter?"
The manager looked away.
That was answer enough.
Then he added something Emily had not expected.
"The second access code wasn't used today."
Emily frowned.
"Lauren came in."
"She used the primary code."
"So who has the second?"
The manager lowered his voice.
"Whoever it is came here at eleven forty last night."
Emily felt cold despite the sun.
At eleven forty last night, Michael had been in her living room.
May you like
Whoever entered the storage unit while Emily confronted him was a third person.
THE THURSDAY CALL
