The Mistress in the Room novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Nothing Changes

Evan was still parked across from the brick building when I came back, and he did not ask where I'd been.

"Fourth floor again," I said.

"I'll wait."

"You can come to the lobby."

"Then I'll sit in the lobby."

I let him.

Lydia opened the door before I knocked.

She had changed out of the robe into a gray sweater, and her face was blotchy and bare.

The fruit bowl was gone from the table.

In its place sat a phone I had never seen, a cheap black one in a cracked rubber case.

"Sit," she said. "Please."

I sat.

She sat across from me and put both hands flat on the table to keep them still.

"I need to say something before you read anything," she said. "I put the clip in the folder."

I did not move.

"I got the link from Douglas's assistant two weeks ago. She added me to the shared drive by mistake. I uploaded the file from this apartment at ten to five on the day of the dinner."

"You told me last night you didn't know how it got there."

"I lied to you."

"Why?"

"Because he said he was leaving you after the wedding," Lydia said, "and he said that last year, and the year before that, and the year before that."

Her voice was thin.

"He told me in September that he'd tell you at Christmas. He told me at Christmas that he'd wait until Hannah got engaged. When she got engaged, he told me he had to wait for the engagement dinner to be over. I was six months along, Fran."

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