“What does that mean?”
I opened the folder.
The photograph slid across the table and stopped beside his hand.
Andrew went completely still.
Then came the performance.
Confusion first.
“What is this?”
“You tell me.”
“She’s a colleague.”
I placed the restaurant photograph beside it.
His face tightened.
“That proves nothing.”
Then the hotel photograph.
Then the flight itinerary.
Andrew stared at the papers in silence.
Mom had appeared in the doorway behind him.
Daniel stood farther back in the living room, exactly where I had asked him to remain until needed.
Andrew noticed Mom first.
His expression shifted from defensive to angry.
“You’re doing this in front of her?”
I almost admired the instinct.
He had been caught betraying me, yet within seconds he was trying to make my reaction the offense.
“You left her at her husband’s funeral,” I said.
“You can survive an uncomfortable kitchen.”
His face reddened.
Then he saw Daniel.
“What is he doing here?”
Daniel walked into the room carrying Dad’s phone.
“Following Robert’s instructions.”
Andrew’s confidence cracked.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
“My father knew,” I said.
Andrew looked at me, then at the photographs.
“He was sick, Melissa.
He was paranoid.”
Daniel’s voice remained calm.
“Robert verified what he saw.”
Andrew gave a bitter laugh.
“So he had me followed? And you think that’s normal?”
“No,” I said.
“I think sleeping with another woman while telling your wife you’re working is the part we should probably discuss first.”
He pushed the photographs away.
“You have no idea what our relationship was.”
“Our?”
He realized the mistake immediately.
Mom closed her eyes.
Andrew tried again.
“I mean professionally.”
I didn’t answer.
Daniel placed Dad’s phone on the table and started the recording.
Dad appeared on the screen sitting in his hospital chair.
He looked exhausted.
But his voice was steady.
“Melissa, if you’re watching this, then Daniel has shown you what I found.
I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you myself.”
