Chapter 7 - The Week Before Natalie Died
Ethan had avoided that week for months.
Now he reconstructed it hour by hour.
Natalie had been anxious.
Sleeping poorly.
Checking locks twice.
He had blamed grief because her mother had recently died.
Now he wondered whether it had been fear.
Rebecca subpoenaed access logs.
Phone records.
Bank records.
Security footage.
Nothing magical appeared overnight.
But pieces accumulated.
Six days before Natalie died, she met Rebecca.
Five days before, she copied trust records.
Four days before, Corinne called Natalie eleven times.
Three days before, Natalie changed the code to the home security system.
Two days before, Corinne entered Natalie’s safe-deposit box.
One day before, Natalie bought the stuffed rabbit.
Ethan stared.
“The rabbit?”
Rebecca nodded.
A receipt showed Natalie purchased it from a small children's boutique.
She also bought a tiny brass key ring.
The key they had found.
Natalie had hidden access to her evidence inside a toy meant for Maisie.
Then Rebecca found a voicemail Natalie had left her.
It had never been forwarded to Ethan.
“I confronted her. She denied everything. Then she told me Ethan would believe her over me because I’ve been ‘emotional lately.’”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Natalie continued:
“She keeps asking questions about what happens if I die. I know how that sounds. I’m not accusing anyone of hurting me. I just want everything documented.”
That distinction mattered.
Natalie wasn’t predicting murder.
She was documenting manipulation.
Then came another discovery.
Corinne had been hired by Reed Property Group two years earlier.
Not by Ethan.
By Natalie.
Ethan frowned.
“Natalie hired her?”
Rebecca nodded.
Corinne had originally worked as an outside executive assistant during a major restructuring.
She became close to Natalie first.
That made Ethan’s marriage to her after Natalie’s death feel even worse.
He remembered Corinne sitting with him at the funeral.
Bringing Maisie bottles.
Telling him Natalie had asked her to “look after them.”
Had that been true?
They searched Natalie’s surviving messages.
No such request existed.
Then Lauren, Ethan’s sister, called.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Corinne came to my house after Natalie died.”
“When?”
“Three days after the funeral.”
Ethan sat up.
“What did she want?”
“She asked whether you had updated your will.”
Ethan said nothing.
Lauren continued.
“I thought it was weird. I told her to ask you.”
“What did she say?”
Lauren hesitated.
“She said you were in no condition to make decisions and that someone needed to protect Maisie’s future.”
Ethan looked at his daughter playing nearby.
Corinne hadn’t waited weeks.
May you like
She hadn’t waited months.
Three days after Natalie’s funeral, she was already asking about Ethan’s death.
