She said it was not a lot at first.
She said someone she had been seeing told her Daniel could help her if she just got access to his work laptop.
She said Daniel refused when she asked him for money two days earlier.
She said he told her he loved her but would not lie to me or open accounts in my name.
I had not known about that conversation.
Daniel had protected me from it, or tried to.
The plan, if it deserved that word, had been stupid and desperate.
She had used the spare fob to open the garage and leave Daniel’s car running long enough to fill the attached garage with fumes.
Then she opened the interior door just enough, she claimed, to make him dizzy, not dead.
The cinnamon plug-in was supposed to hide the smell.
The note taped inside the garage door was not a confession.
It was instructions from the man she had been seeing.
Short lines.
Cold lines.
Use the fob.
Keep the door closed.
Get the laptop.
Leave before the bus.
That last line was the one that made her fold over her knees and sob until she gagged.
Leave before the bus.
