Chapter 3 — The Secret Claire Had Been Hiding
Three days later, Claire finally spoke.
Not about the attack.
About the months before it.
"There was something I never told you."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She reached into her nightstand and pulled out a small stack of envelopes.
Every one addressed to her.
None of them opened.
"They disappeared from our mailbox."
My stomach tightened.
She handed me another.
"This one came to my office instead."
Inside was a handwritten note.
Leave my son before the baby is born.
Another.
You're not family. You never will be.
Another.
Accidents happen to mothers every day.
My hands began to shake.
"Claire..."
She looked away.
"I knew it was your mom."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because every time she insulted me..."
"...you told me she'd eventually accept me."
I couldn't answer.
Because she was right.
I had spent years making excuses.
"She didn't mean it."
"She's old-fashioned."
"Just give her time."
Time.
Time had almost gotten my wife killed.
The detective handling the case arrived that afternoon.
After reading the letters, she looked at me and said,
"Mr. Brooks..."
"This wasn't a crime of passion."
She laid the letters across the table.
"This was escalating behavior."
"She'd been planning to break your marriage for months."
Then she opened one final file.
"We also found internet searches on your mother's laptop."
I frowned.
"What kind of searches?"
The detective met my eyes.
"'Can grandparents get emergency custody after the mother is hospitalized?'"
Claire gasped.
The room suddenly felt cold.
May you like
Because this had never been about anger.
It had been about taking our son.
