CHAPTER 5 — The Mask Slips
The room went completely silent.
Mr. Pierce cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should give you a moment."
"I don't need a moment," I said. "I'm not signing."
Daniel let go of my hand. He leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh, the sigh of a patient husband with a difficult wife.
"Claire, we've been over this."
"Then go over it again. Tell me why my father's house needs to belong to a company I've never heard of."
"Because you're not well," he said.
"Who says I'm not well?"
"Everyone," Rachel said sharply. "Your doctor. Your friends. Your own husband. You think we haven't noticed? You forget whole days. You cry for no reason. Last week you accused Daniel of moving your car keys."
"He did move my car keys."
Daniel shook his head slowly and looked at Mr. Pierce as if to say, You see what I live with.
That look made me angrier than anything else.
Rachel reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope. She opened it and laid a letter on the table.
Psychiatric Assessment — Claire Whitmore. The signature at the bottom read Dr. R. Collins.
"This doctor examined you three weeks ago," Rachel said. "She recommends inpatient care. Daniel has been trying to protect you from seeing this."
"I've never met Dr. Collins."
"You have," Daniel said quietly. "You just don't remember. That's the whole problem."
For a terrible second, doubt crept in. Maybe I had. Maybe I was crazy. Maybe the pills, the confusion, and the missing nights were all real, and I was the one inventing a conspiracy.
That was what he did. He made me doubt myself.
Then I remembered the calendar in the toiletry bag.
Crying episode — Rachel witnessed.
He hadn't just been writing down my breakdown. He had been planning it.
"Mr. Pierce," I said, turning to the lawyer. "Did you know my husband has been giving me sedatives every night without telling me what they are?"
Mr. Pierce's face went pale.
"That's absurd," Daniel snapped.
It was the first time I had ever heard him raise his voice.
"Is it?" I asked. "Then you won't mind if I get a blood test today."
Daniel stood up so fast his chair scraped across the floor.
"That's enough. You're upset. You're spiraling. This is exactly what Dr. Collins warned us about." He reached for my arm. "Come upstairs and lie down."
"Don't touch me."
"Claire—"
The doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
Daniel looked at Rachel. Rachel looked at the window.
The doorbell rang again. Then came three firm knocks.
"Expecting someone?" Mr. Pierce asked weakly.
Daniel walked to the front door and opened it.
Harold Bennett stood on the porch in his gray overcoat, leaning on the walnut cane my father had carved for him.
Beside him stood a woman in a dark blazer with a badge clipped to her belt.
May you like
And behind them, her eyes red and frightened, was Megan.
"Hello, Daniel," Harold said calmly. "I believe we need to talk about my client's house."
