Page 101 of What the Wife Knew

I buzzed them in at the gate and they soon walked into the kitchen. The specialty cleaners had come and once again eliminated the signs of the battles fought on the house’s expensive hardwood floors.

Portia walked in without hesitating. Wyatt lingered in the doorway with Elias, looking ready to bolt if things turned upside down. I couldn’t blame him. The ghosts of their parents’ destructive decisions lingered. Any positive memory he might have of the place got swamped by the flood of terrible ones.

Elias broke the silence. “You were right. Portia pressed all the buttons on the security pad out front and hit it with a stone. That and the open pedestrian gate triggered the silent alarm.”

Elias sounded a bit like a proud papa when bragging about Portia’s ingenuity. The man should think about having children. His instincts were rock solid, and the kids would get used to his tendency to spout legalese. Eventually.

I didn’t know any decent men. Except for him.

“You also went to the Rothmans to get help.” I knew because Elias told me. Portia was the type of genuine hero her father had claimed to be. She could have lapsed into teen moodiness when I kicked her out, but she got the message and acted. I owed her and would honor that debt as soon as I figured out how. “Thank you. I don’t know what would have happened without your quick thinking.”

Portia stood by the kitchen island for a few seconds without saying anything then she launched her body across the room and thumped against my chest. She wrapped her arms around me in a suffocating bear hug. The sudden show of affection threw me off-balance. My instinct was to freeze but I didn’t want to send the wrong message. It took a frown from Elias for me to get the hint and hug Portia back.

The uncharacteristic display of emotion ended as quickly as it started. Two seconds tops. When she pulled away her cheeks were bright red. She might be embarrassed but I was stunned. Ialso didn’t want to ruin the moment or make her feel awkward, so I focused on Wyatt.

“Are you okay?”

A sling held his bandaged arm. Kathryn’s stab had done some damage. He would need physical therapy once the pain subsided and the worst of the injury healed. The emotional scars would take longer to heal. If they ever did.

“Not really.” Wyatt shrugged. “But that’s not why we’re here.”

“Okay.” I braced for verbal impact.

“I planted the notes.” He visibly swallowed. “The one in your mailbox was easy. There’s a blind spot with the security camera along the wall on the left side. I snuck in there.”

Oh, shit.This kid.

I needed one more confirmation. “And the one on the wall in my bedroom?”

“You hadn’t disabled my security code yet, so it was pretty easy for me to get in. I didn’t think about it then but the alarm company probably has a record of my code being used.” His rough tone spoke to how difficult it was for him to admit all of this. “Mom told me we needed to force you out. She planted a listening device to collect intel but then something happened to it.”

Also Portia. The girl was a superstar.

“She hasn’t admitted it, of course, but Kathryn hid the bat to frame you. She had it last and Wyatt didn’t know about it,” Elias said.

“But the notes... Mom kept begging me to do something and telling me that Dad would want me...” Wyatt paled. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

His honesty did. “I appreciate your telling me the truth.”

Richmond and Kathryn had used their son’s loyalty and love against him. They’d weaponized him and baited him with lies. They caused damage and saddled him with mistrust that might take some expert therapist decades to unravel. I didn’t want to add to that.

“Was the break-in you, too?” I asked.

“That was Thomas,” Elias said. “After you visited Richmond’s office, Thomas was convinced there was evidence that might implicate him at the house. He came looking for it, but the alarm stopped him.”

“I was up in your bedroom writing on the wall. I watched him walk across the side yard and snuck out of the house before he could see me.” Wyatt shrugged. “I thought he was meeting you. Figured you two were planning something. Then the alarm went off and I ran.”

Nothing I could say would matter, so I didn’t try.

“When Thomas found out he wasn’t on the hook for murder he started confessing to everything else,” Elias explained. “He’s looking for a deal on the assault charges concerning what he did to you and wants to duck the hospital fraud issues. I doubt he’ll be successful on either of those.”

For a second I forgot I’d battled enemies on more than one front over the last few weeks. Many people in, and adjacent to, the Dougherty family had wanted me gone. They all failed.

Wyatt’s stark expression didn’t vanish. “I’m sorry. I should have—”

“You’re forgiven.” It was that simple. I didn’t blame Wyatt. I blamed the people who created him and manipulated him. “I understand how hard it can be to say no to a reckless parent who is determined to burn the world down.”

My reckless parent, Mom, came home tomorrow. Unfortunately,homemeant to my crime scene of a house because she didn’t have one of her own.

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