Chapter 6 - The Maid of Honor
The sound came again.
Beep.
Everyone looked at Brooke’s purse.
She clutched it against her body. “It’s my phone.”
Daniel held out his hand. “Open it.”
Brooke laughed, too loudly. “You’re not serious.”
“Open the purse.”
Vanessa’s throat tightened. “Brooke.”
They had known each other since college. Brooke had held Vanessa’s hair after bad dates, sat beside her at her father’s funeral, helped choose the flowers for this wedding.
“Please,” Vanessa said. “Just open it.”
Brooke’s eyes filled with tears.
Then she opened the purse.
Inside were lipstick, tissues, a compact, two mints—and a black plastic badge with the Whitmore Foundation logo.
Celeste swore under her breath.
Daniel picked it up.
The printed name had been scratched away.
Margaret said, “That’s not proof she used it.”
“No,” Daniel replied. “But the chip number will be.”
Brooke’s hands began to shake.
Vanessa felt something inside her harden. “Tell me now.”
Brooke looked at her. “I borrowed it.”
“For what?”
“I needed to get into the archive.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Vanessa stepped closer. “Why?”
Brooke wiped under one eye. “Because I was trying to protect you.”
Vanessa almost laughed. “From what?”
“From Daniel.”
Daniel’s face went cold.
Brooke reached into the purse again and pulled out a folded photograph.
She held it toward Vanessa.
The picture showed Daniel outside a hotel eight months earlier, his arm around a woman Vanessa did not recognize.
Vanessa’s fingers went numb.
The woman was Celeste.
Brooke said, “I found out they were meeting in secret.”
Vanessa looked from the photo to her husband.
Daniel didn’t deny it.
“Tell her,” Brooke said.
Vanessa’s voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Tell me what?”
May you like
Daniel stared at the photograph.
Then he said, “Celeste was helping me investigate your mother.”
