Chapter 7 - The Woman at Ava’s Door
Evan called Ava.
No answer.
He called again.
Straight to voicemail.
Maya was already reaching for her keys.
“You’re not going.”
She looked at him. “You don’t get to tell me where I go.”
“I meant alone.”
For one second they stood there like the married couple they had once been—two people about to run toward danger together.
Then Maya remembered the red dress.
She looked away.
“Fine. But we take separate cars.”
Ava lived fifteen minutes away in a modern apartment complex downtown.
Her door was open.
Evan arrived first and waited in the hallway until Maya came off the elevator.
“Police are on the way,” he said.
“You called them?”
“Yes.”
Maya gave him a look.
“I’m learning.”
They entered.
A lamp was broken beside the couch.
Ava’s beige clutch lay on the floor.
“Maya,” Evan whispered.
Ava appeared from the kitchen.
Barefoot.
Still in the red dress.
Shaking.
“I’m okay.”
Evan rushed forward, but she raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
Maya asked, “Who was here?”
Ava sat down.
“Your sister.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
“Rachel.”
Maya’s older sister had sat beside Lily’s ICU bed for six hours.
She had organized the funeral flowers.
She had held Maya while the casket was closed.
“That’s impossible.”
Ava pulled out her phone.
“I saw her in Napa.”
Evan stared.
Ava opened a photo taken at the vineyard resort. In the background, near the reception desk, stood a woman with auburn hair and sunglasses.
Rachel.
Maya’s pulse hammered.
“She told me she was in Denver that weekend.”
“She wasn’t,” Ava said. “I saw her twice.”
Evan looked at Maya. “Why would Rachel follow me?”
Maya could barely think.
Then Ava said, “Because she knew about us before you did.”
Maya’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Ava swallowed.
“Rachel contacted me six months ago.”
Evan looked stunned.
“She told me your marriage was finished. She said Maya was waiting for the right moment to file. She gave me your travel schedule. She told me which conferences you’d be at.”
Maya felt the room tilt.
“My sister introduced you?”
Ava nodded.
“Not in person. She sent messages from an anonymous account.”
Police sirens grew louder outside.
Ava unlocked another screenshot.
“The account sent me one final message the night Lily went into the ICU.”
She turned the screen toward them.
KEEP HIM OFF HIS PHONE UNTIL MORNING.
Maya stopped breathing.
Below it was a transfer receipt.
Five thousand dollars.
May you like
Sender:
RACHEL MORGAN.
