Chapter 4 - THE EX-WIFE WHO HAD BEEN WARNED ABOUT MAX
Lauren did not go home with Evelyn.
That mattered.
She stayed while police documented the SUV.
Then asked Daniel:
“Can I see Max?”
He hesitated.
Not because he wanted revenge.
Because the divorce decree said the dog was his.
Evelyn had spent months turning access into leverage.
Still.
Max saw Lauren and pulled toward her.
Daniel let the leash go slack.
Lauren knelt.
Max licked her face.
She cried.
Daniel looked away.
Then Lauren said:
“She told me you were going to sell him.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“Max.”
“Why would I sell Max?”
“She said you were moving.”
“I’m not.”
“She said the cabin lease was ending.”
“I own the cabin.”
Lauren stared.
Another lie.
Then:
“She said your work schedule meant he was alone all day.”
“I work four ten-hour shifts and my neighbor walks him at lunch.”
Lauren wiped her face.
“She had screenshots.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What screenshots?”
Texts supposedly from Daniel:
CAN’T KEEP MAX FOREVER.
HE’S TOO MUCH NOW.
MAY REHOME HIM IF I HAVE TO MOVE.
Daniel had never sent them.
Lauren showed him.
They looked real.
His name.
His profile image.
Message style almost right.
But one phrase:
“if I have to move.”
Daniel never wrote like that.
Then Lauren admitted Evelyn had been building a case for months that Max would be safer with Lauren.
Not legally.
Emotionally.
She said:
if Daniel lost Max,
he would lose his excuse to keep contact.
Lauren believed part of that.
Because Daniel had sometimes texted pictures of Max after the divorce.
Too often maybe.
A way of staying connected.
Daniel owned that.
“I used him as an excuse sometimes.”
Lauren looked at him.
“Thank you.”
He continued:
“That doesn’t mean she gets to take him.”
“No.”
Good.
Then Officer Grant found an envelope in Evelyn’s SUV glove compartment.
Inside:
printed screenshots of Daniel’s fake texts.
Copies of veterinary records.
A draft complaint alleging animal neglect.
No animal harm had occurred.
The complaint claimed:
missed vaccinations,
inadequate supervision,
possible sedative misuse.
Vet records disproved the first two.
The medication claim was stranger.
Evelyn had taken Max’s sedative.
Why?
Then Daniel remembered the steak.
Raw steak at Lauren’s house.
Evelyn had purchased it.
Receipt in her bag.
He felt cold.
Officer Grant did too.
“What was the steak for?”
Evelyn said:
“Dinner.”
Lauren stared.
“You told me you were vegan this month.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
Small.
Then recovered.
“For you.”
Lauren said:
“You know I don’t eat steak.”
Silence.
Now the steak mattered.
Not because anyone had harmed Max.
But because food could be used to lure a dog.
Maybe the plan was simple:
steal Max,
bring him to Lauren,
claim he wandered away hungry,
use fake messages to show Daniel intended to abandon him.
Then what?
Custody leverage?
More?
May you like
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
She was hiding something bigger.
