Chapter 9 - The Unexpected Call
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Normally I ignored unknown calls.
That night I answered.
“Hello?”
“Is this Claire Bennett?”
A man.
“Yes.”
“My name is Daniel Kline.”
I gripped the phone.
Kline.
Harrison & Kline.
“I’m an attorney.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Then he said, “I suspected you might.”
I sat down.
“What do you want?”
“I’m calling because I believe there has been a misunderstanding involving your husband.”
I almost laughed.
“Does the misunderstanding involve him lying about where he was today?”
Another pause.
“Mrs. Bennett, I’m limited in what I can discuss.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Because your name appeared on a document presented to my office.”
Everything inside me went still.
“What document?”
“I’d rather not discuss details over the phone.”
“Mr. Kline.”
“Yes?”
“Was my signature on it?”
Silence.
That was my answer.
I stood.
“Was my signature on the document?”
“Yes.”
I looked toward the staircase.
Ethan was upstairs.
Twenty feet away.
“What kind of document?”
“I cannot ethically provide information belonging to another client.”
“Whose client?”
Another silence.
Then Daniel Kline said something that changed the entire shape of what I thought I knew.
“Not your husband.”
I sat back down.
“Vanessa?”
“I can’t confirm that.”
“You just did.”
He sighed.
“I called because the signature raised concerns.”
“What concerns?”
“The date.”
My pulse finally jumped.
“What about it?”
“The document is dated eighteen months ago.”
I stared at the dark window above the sink.
“Why is that a problem?”
“Because according to the attached acknowledgment, you signed it in person before a witness in Indianapolis.”
“So?”
“Mrs. Bennett, were you in Indianapolis on March seventeenth of last year?”
I didn’t need a calendar.
I remembered exactly where I had been.
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
“Boston.”
“How certain?”
“I was giving a keynote presentation to four hundred people at a design conference.”
Silence.
Then I heard paper moving.
May you like
Daniel’s voice became quieter.
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
