Chapter 3 - A Promise I Hadn't Kept
I took Owen into the small bridal changing room and locked the door behind us. Outside, our wedding guests were beginning to leave. A few argued on the gravel path. Somebody was already playing back a video of the altar on a phone.
"Show me where you got the pin," I said.
Owen pulled a sewing-kit wrapper from his pocket. "There was a basket at the dressing table. I saw the air pouch when she changed dresses before the ceremony. I tried telling an usher. He said I was nervous about you marrying Brielle."
He pressed his palms against his knees. "I didn't want to hurt a baby, Dad. I wouldn't. I made sure it was the pouch, not her."
I sat down in front of him. "You can't ever take that kind of chance. If you think someone is lying, you come to me. You don't use a sharp thing on anybody."
His eyes flooded. "I did come to you. Tuesday, Friday, and this morning. You kept saying we'd talk after the wedding."
I opened my mouth. Then closed it. He was right.
For months I had been so relieved that Owen seemed to accept Brielle that I'd treated every concern as a step backward. I had wanted a fresh start badly enough to make my son carry the cost.
"I'm sorry," I told him. "I should have listened."
He unlocked his phone and showed me the date on the audio file: Saturday, 9:47 p.m. I'd sent him to the guesthouse for his jacket. Instead he'd passed the greenhouse, heard an argument, and pressed record through a cracked window.
The recording lasted fifty-eight seconds. After Brielle's words came a man's voice: "If Eli comes back with those photos, tell him we'll make sure nobody hires him again."
"Was that Colin?"
Owen nodded. "He had the same blue suit coat hanging on a hook."
My phone rang. Asha Lin, my business partner, almost never called on a Sunday evening.
"Daniel," she said, skipping hello, "somebody replaced the final safety report for Pine Hollow in our project folder. The new version has your approval."
May you like
"I didn't approve anything."
"I know," she said. "That's why you need to hear what time it was uploaded."
