Chapter 6 - Behind Anna’s Books
Vivian hid Anna’s phone and notebook inside the house Ethan shared with her.
That detail disturbed Lily more than if they had been locked in a distant bank vault.
For nearly three years, they had lived feet away from her mother’s missing things.
Vivian led them to the study.
Anna’s old books still filled the built-in shelves because Ethan had never been able to remove them.
Accounting texts.
Novels.
Cookbooks.
A battered astronomy guide Lily remembered from childhood.
Vivian crouched beside the lowest shelf and removed three books.
Behind them was a narrow panel.
Ethan stared.
“I didn’t know that opened.”
“Anna did.”
Vivian pressed one corner.
The panel shifted.
Inside was a cloth pouch.
Lily stopped breathing.
Vivian handed it to Ethan.
He opened it.
Anna’s phone.
Brown leather notebook.
A silver flash drive.
And a folded hospital property bag.
Ethan looked at Vivian.
“You hid them here?”
“After we married.”
“Where were they before?”
“My apartment.”
“You kept them through our entire courtship.”
“Yes.”
Lily felt physically sick.
“How did you sleep?”
Vivian looked at her.
“Badly.”
“No.”
Lily’s voice sharpened.
“How did you sleep in Mom’s house with Mom’s phone hidden behind Mom’s books?”
Vivian’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan turned the phone over.
The screen was cracked.
“Can it be recovered?”
“Probably.”
Vivian nodded toward the flash drive.
“Anna backed up some files there.”
“Did you open it?”
“Yes.”
“What’s on it?”
“The vendor records.”
“And?”
“Emails.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Why keep evidence against yourself?”
Vivian laughed bitterly.
“I asked myself that for three years.”
Lily understood before Ethan did.
“You couldn’t destroy her things.”
Vivian looked at her.
“No.”
It did not redeem her.
But it complicated her.
Anna had been Vivian’s closest friend before becoming the person who discovered her theft.
Vivian could steal from her.
Betray her.
Lie about her.
But apparently not erase the last objects that still carried Anna’s fingerprints.
Ethan called his attorney.
Then the police.
Vivian did not run.
She sat at the kitchen table while detectives arrived.
Lily and Noah stayed with Rachel that night.
Noah learned only part of the truth.
“Vivian lied about the necklace.”
“Is she arrested?”
“People are asking questions.”
“Did she steal Mom’s stuff?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lily looked at her brother.
“Because she was scared.”
“Of Mom?”
“Of what Mom knew.”
Noah frowned.
“Mom’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then Vivian’s scared of dead people?”
Lily thought about it.
“Maybe she’s scared of the truth they leave behind.”
Noah seemed to accept that.
The phone recovery took several days.
The notebook required none.
Anna’s handwriting filled eighty-three pages.
Most had nothing to do with Vivian.
Grocery reminders.
Grant deadlines.
Lily’s orthodontist appointment.
Noah’s first-grade field trip.
One line broke Lily’s heart:
Buy Lily new red sneakers before Friday. She says she doesn’t care. She does.
Lily cried over that longer than over the financial records.
Her mother had noticed.
That was grief’s cruelty.
The smallest evidence often hurt most.
Ethan read the notebook slowly.
He did not treat it like a confession.
Anna’s private thoughts had not been written for an audience.
Still, the final pages mapped the BrightSteps transactions.
Vendor names.
Routing numbers.
Dates.
Questions beside Vivian’s reimbursements.
Then:
Talked to V. She denied it. I wanted to believe her.
Later:
Found duplicate routing. I think it’s her.
And finally:
Need to tell Ethan after audit committee. I hate bringing this into the house. V is family to the kids.
Lily stared.
Vivian had been family even then.
Anna trusted her.
The next entry was the morning of the crash.
Friday.
If V admits it, I want repayment and treatment before police. I don’t want to destroy her life.
Lily closed the notebook.
Her mother had planned mercy.
Vivian had answered by stealing her evidence after death.
Ethan sat beside Lily.
“She was going to protect her.”
“Mom was too nice.”
“Maybe.”
“No. She was.”
Lily wiped her face angrily.
“That’s why people hurt her.”
Ethan looked at his daughter.
“Kindness did not make Vivian steal.”
Lily said nothing.
“It was Vivian’s decision.”
“What about you?”
He stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
“You married her.”
Ethan looked down.
Lily continued.
“You brought her into our house.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t know because she lied.”
“Yes.”
“But did you ever ask why she was always here?”
Ethan frowned.
“She helped us.”
“Did you ask whether we wanted her helping?”
The question stopped him.
After Anna’s death, Vivian had become constant.
Ethan had needed her.
Had Lily?
Had Noah?
He suddenly was not sure.
Lily whispered:
“Mom died, and everybody kept telling us Vivian was what Mom would have wanted.”
Ethan remembered saying it.
Your mother trusted Vivian more than anyone.
Anna would want us to let her help.
Later:
Anna would want us to be happy.
Had he used Anna’s memory to make his children accept his choices?
His stomach tightened.
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
The detective.
Anna’s phone had been recovered.
There was a voice memo recorded less than four hours before the crash.
It was addressed to Ethan.
May you like
And Vivian had listened to it three years earlier.
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