“How much money were you putting into the condo?” I asked.
“About thirty-two thousand from savings and investments.”
“And her ninety-six thousand?”
“She said it was coming from the property settlement.”
“Did you ever see a settlement agreement?”
He hesitated.
“She showed me a document that looked like one.”
My pulse quickened.
“What document?”
“A draft agreement. It said you were both separating and had agreed to sell the townhouse. I didn't read every page.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I might. She emailed me a copy a few weeks ago.”
I leaned forward.
“Send that to Julia, too.”
Daniel nodded.
“I will.”
He took a breath.
“There's something else.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What?”
“Rachel asked me to help edit a scanned document a while back.”
I stared at him.
“What kind of editing?”
“She said an old real estate form had been scanned badly. There were shadows and marks around the signature area. She wanted me to clean up the image.”
“Did you?”
He looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
I didn't speak.
Daniel continued quickly.
“I thought she was cleaning up paperwork for the lender. I didn't think she was creating anything. She works with design files all the time, and so do I.”
I watched him carefully.
“Did she ask you to move a signature?”
“No. She sent me an image and asked me to remove the background and improve the contrast. I didn't realize what it was being used for.”
“Do you still have the original file?”
“I think so.”
“Then Julia needs that.”
He nodded.
I sat back.
The café suddenly seemed too warm.
Daniel had helped prepare part of the document package, even if he hadn't understood what he was doing.
That was why he'd sounded so frightened on the phone.
He had begun wondering whether he had unknowingly helped commit a fraud.
“When did you realize something was wrong?” I asked.
“Two nights ago.”
“What happened?”
“We were talking about the condo, and I asked whether you'd actually agreed to the credit line. Rachel said yes.”
He looked at his hands.
“I asked whether you'd be at the final signing because the lender wanted confirmation of the authority she'd submitted.”
“And?”
“She got angry. She said she didn't need you there because the power of attorney gave her the right to handle everything.”
I waited.
“Then she said something I couldn't stop thinking about.”
“What?”
Daniel looked directly at me.
“She said, ‘Mike doesn't need to know every detail. By the time he understands what's happened, it'll already be done.’”
I felt a chill.
“Those were her exact words?”
“As close as I can remember.”
I stared at him.
“That didn't sound like a person whose husband had agreed to everything.”
“No.”
“So you looked at the paperwork.”
He nodded.
“And after I looked at it, I started thinking about how strange the whole story was.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“Rachel kept saying you were supportive of the divorce, but she wouldn't let me speak to you. She said it would upset you. Then she told me you were threatening her because you'd changed your mind.”
I shook my head.
“I haven't threatened her.”
“I know that now.”
“How?”
“Because when I asked her what you'd actually said, she couldn't give me a straight answer.”
He paused.
“Yesterday, she got a message from you about contacting you through an attorney. She was furious.”
I remembered the message.
It had been a short response to a question about the house.
Daniel continued.
“She said you were trying to control her. But if you'd already agreed to the divorce, why would she need to keep telling you she was with me? And why would she be worried about you seeing the lender documents?”
He looked down.
“I finally realized there were things she wasn't telling me.”
I studied his face.
“Did you call me because you felt bad about the affair or because you were scared you'd helped her forge something?”
He winced.
“Both.”
I appreciated the answer more than I wanted to.
At least he didn't pretend his motives were pure.
“I can't tell you what to think of me,” Daniel said. “I knew she was married. I should have stayed away until everything was actually settled. That's on me.”
“Yes,” I said. “It is.”
“But I never agreed to take money from you. I didn't know she was using a document you hadn't signed.”
I looked out the window.
I didn't know whether I believed every word.
But his willingness to provide the files mattered.
“You need your own attorney,” I said.
He blinked.
“Seriously?”
“Yes. If you helped edit a document that's being questioned, you need advice about your part in it. You also need to preserve everything.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
I looked at him.
“And don't mistake this conversation for friendship.”
“I won't.”
“You were involved with my wife while she was still married to me. You helped destroy something that mattered to me. Calling me about the paperwork doesn't erase that.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I understand.”