Chapter 5 - Victor Had Not Been Where He Said He Was
The second part came from current records.
Arthur obtained them through investigators working with me and my counsel.
Victor had told me he was inside the house when Emily went into the pool wing.
He said he stepped into his office for a business call.
Two minutes.
Maybe three.
Then Diane screamed.
That was not true.
His phone location data placed him in the detached guest cottage on the far side of the estate.
Security access records showed he entered at 1:41 p.m.
He came out at 2:16.
Thirty-five minutes.
Not two.
The woman with him was Lauren Pierce.
A marketing consultant who had been working with Victor for nearly a year.
His mistress.
I learned about the affair from Arthur.
Not Victor.
Arthur hated telling me.
“I’m sorry.”
I sat across from him in his rehabilitation-center library three days before the pool confrontation.
“How long?”
“We don’t know.”
“Was he with her when Emily drowned?”
Arthur hesitated.
“That is what the access records strongly suggest.”
I went completely numb.
Victor had promised to supervise our daughter.
Then left her.
Not for work.
Not for an emergency.
To meet another woman.
The guest cottage security log showed two entries.
Victor.
Lauren.
No one else.
Lauren eventually admitted the meeting.
She insisted she had no idea Victor was responsible for Emily that afternoon.
She thought Diane and other family members were supervising the children.
That mattered.
I had no reason to turn Lauren into the central villain simply because adultery made me hate her.
Victor was Emily’s father.
Victor made the promise.
Victor left.
Then he lied about where he had been.
But there was still one question.
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If Victor was gone for thirty-five minutes, where was Diane?
That answer explained why she was willing to push Arthur into a pool.
