For a moment I thought she meant to stay. Instead she packed only a small bag. She left the jewelry Ethan had bought on the dresser. She set her passport beside the evidence bag.

And before she left the bedroom, she took off her wedding ring, held it for several seconds, and placed it on my side of the bed. It might have been an apology.

It might have been an admission. It changed nothing.

At 6:03 a.m., she called her sister and asked for a place to stay. She left twenty minutes later. The driveway camera caught her standing beside her car, looking back at the front door as if she expected me to appear.

I was still in Chicago.

By sunrise, Ethan had vanished. Natalie surrendered the folder to airport police and canceled her flight. Lauren hired an attorney. The bank widened its investigation.