Chapter 6 - I Asked Adrienne One Question Before Showing Her Anything
I drove the children to my sister’s house.
They stayed together.
No adult separated them for questioning.
No one made Owen repeat the story ten times.
Then I went home.
Adrienne was waiting.
Wade had already called her.
I could tell immediately.
Her face had the controlled, terrified expression of someone who knew which subject was coming before the first word was spoken.
I placed my phone on the kitchen counter.
Then asked:
“Are you having an affair with Wade?”
She stared at me.
“No.”
One word.
Immediate.
I watched her carefully.
“Think about that answer.”
“Beckett, I don’t know what Wade told you—”
“Wade didn’t tell me.”
That stopped her.
I continued.
“Owen did.”
Adrienne went white.
The lie lasted three more seconds.
Then:
“It happened once.”
I said nothing.
“A mistake.”
Still nothing.
“We were drinking.”
I finally asked:
“In the guesthouse Monday afternoon?”
She froze.
I had deliberately given her a specific day.
Her face told me there had been more than one.
I asked again.
“How long?”
Adrienne started crying.
Not an answer.
“How long?”
“Seven months.”
Eleven years of marriage reduced to two words.
Seven months.
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And the man involved had deliberately hit our son four days after Owen discovered them.
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