The Woman in Red Told Me the First Truth
Chapter 04 - The Woman in Red Told Me the First Truth
Allie let Vanessa inside.
They sat at the kitchen table where Allie and Richard had eaten thousands of dinners together.
Vanessa refused coffee.
Her hands would not stop shaking.
“Start at the beginning,” Allie said.
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“Richard told me your marriage had been over for years.”
Allie said nothing.
“He said you stayed married because divorce would complicate your military career and his position at the firm.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I know that now.”
“When did it start?”
“Eight months ago.”
Allie absorbed the answer without moving.
Eight months.
Richard had kissed her goodbye at the airport seven months earlier.
He had told her he missed her.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
The younger woman flinched.
“I knew he was married. Whatever he told me, I knew.”
For the first time that night, Allie respected her.
Not enough to forgive her.
But enough to listen.
Vanessa explained that Richard had asked her to prepare a series of foundation documents. He claimed Allie wanted to step away after retirement and transfer authority to him.
Then the transactions became strange.
Consulting fees.
Property purchases.
Payments to companies Vanessa could not verify.
“I started asking questions,” Vanessa said.
“And?”
“He told me I was paranoid.”
Allie almost smiled bitterly.
Richard apparently had one script for every woman.
Vanessa slid the flash drive across the table.
“I copied everything I could access.”
Allie finally took it.
“Why help me?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Because three weeks ago I found another set of documents.”
“What documents?”
“A partnership agreement.”
Richard planned to merge part of the firm with another company after gaining control of Morgan House.
Allie frowned.
“That makes no sense. Morgan House is a nonprofit.”
“Not if he converts some of its properties through a subsidiary.”
Allie’s stomach tightened.
Her father’s money had purchased six apartment buildings used as temporary housing for veterans and their families.
Those buildings sat on increasingly valuable land.
“How much are the properties worth?”
“Over twenty million now.”
Allie finally understood.
The two million dollars was not the destination.
It was preparation.
Richard wanted control of the foundation to gain access to the real estate.
“Why would you sign as witness?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Because I believed him.”
“And now?”
Vanessa gave a broken laugh.
“Now I know I wasn’t his partner.”
She reached into her handbag and removed a photograph.
Richard stood outside a restaurant.
Beside him was another woman.
Not Allie.
Not Vanessa.
The woman was holding Richard’s hand.
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“He was lying to both of us.”
Allie looked at the date printed on the photograph.
Four months earlier.
Richard had told Allie he was visiting his sick brother that weekend.
Vanessa whispered, “I think there’s more.”
Allie looked up.
“How much more?”
May you like
Vanessa answered with six words.
“I think he planned your divorce already.”
