CHAPTER 20: Jessica’s Decision

Jessica resigned from Richard’s department after completing the internal review.

She did not leave because I demanded it, and I did not celebrate her unemployment.

She told me the company had offered a transfer to another division, but she wanted to work somewhere that did not hold the entire affair inside its walls.

We met at a mediator’s office to discuss dividing our property.

Her face looked older than it had during our last session.

“I spoke to Caroline,” she said.

I asked how the conversation went.

“She asked me whether Richard ever told me the truth about Mara,” Jessica replied.

“I said he didn’t, but I also admitted I had never tried very hard to find out.”

I appreciated that she did not ask me to reward her honesty.

We discussed the mortgage, the value of our cars, and the account we had opened for future travel.

The conversation was practical and sometimes painfully awkward.

At the end, Jessica said she had booked an appointment with a therapist.

“I need to understand why I kept making decisions that I knew would hurt people,” she said.

I told her I hoped it helped.

She looked down at her hands.

“Do you think we’ll ever be friends?”

“I don’t know,” I answered.

“I don’t want to promise something just to make this less uncomfortable.”

She accepted that.

When we left the building, she walked toward a bus stop while I went to my car.

I watched her from across the street for a moment.

Then I turned away and drove home.

CHAPTER 21: The Blue Folder

When I returned to the house to collect my work boots, I found a blue folder on the kitchen counter.

Jessica had left it beside a note saying the documents inside belonged to me and had never been part of Richard’s office records.

The folder contained invoices from the Mercer Street renovation, including the subcontract my father had signed years before his death.

At first I assumed she had gathered them because she knew the building now mattered to me.

Then I noticed a handwritten receipt showing that Richard’s law firm had paid for temporary storage at the property long after Alder House closed.

I called Aaron and asked whether he had ever seen the receipt.

He remembered our father arguing with an office manager about who had permission to store belongings in the old building.

The manager claimed that everything was covered by an agreement signed before the renovation.