Chapter 6 - The Woman Across the Street.
By the end of the week, the story had changed shape.
What began as a disastrous family lunch now touched property, private messages, missing evidence, and a security system deliberately erased after police arrived.
Maya warned Anastasia not to assume every ugly fact belonged to one conspiracy.
"Coincidences happen," she said.
"So do greedy families."
Anastasia nodded.
"But not every lie proves the same plan."
That was why June mattered.
If anyone could connect Melissa's behavior before lunch to what happened afterward, it was the former housekeeper.
Ruiz arranged a protected interview location.
June never arrived.
At 8:40 that evening, Anastasia received a photograph from an unknown number.
It showed a black SUV parked across from June's apartment building.
A second photograph showed a man in a gray jacket standing beside it.
Below the images was one sentence.
Tell your lawyer to stop digging.
Maya called police immediately.
The SUV was gone before officers arrived.
The phone number had been spoofed.
The warning did something Melissa's insults never had.
It made Anastasia afraid for other people.
"I want June left alone," she told Maya.
Maya shook her head.
"You are not responsible for what someone else does to silence a witness."
"But she called because of me."
"She called because she was tired of being silent."
The next morning, June finally appeared.
Not at the police station.
At Cole Hardware.
David was opening the front gate when a woman in a baseball cap stepped from a parked sedan.
"I need to see Anastasia," she said.
David called Maya before calling his daughter.
Within an hour, they were sitting in the hardware store's upstairs office.
June looked smaller than Anastasia remembered.
She kept both hands wrapped around a paper coffee cup she never drank from.
"I quit after the wedding," June said.
"Why?"
"Because Mrs. Harrington asked me to do something I couldn't do."
Maya leaned forward.
"What?"
June looked at Anastasia.
"She wanted me to put a bottle of prescription pills in your suitcase."
Anastasia stared at her.
"What kind of pills?"
"I don't know."
"Why?"
"So she could say you had a problem."
The room went completely still.
June's eyes filled with shame.
"I told her no."
"What did she say?"
"She said loyalty is how people keep their lives comfortable."
June gave a bitter laugh.
"I told her I'd rather be uncomfortable."
David gripped the edge of the desk.
"And then?"
"She fired me."
Maya asked about the lunch.
June explained that Melissa had called her the night before and offered her two weeks' severance if she came back for one day to help serve.
June agreed because she needed the money.
That morning, she heard Melissa and Brooklyn discussing Anastasia.
"Brooklyn asked what would happen if Anastasia refused to apologize."
Anastasia held her breath.
"What did Melissa say?"
June looked directly at her.
"She said, 'Callan knows what he has to do.'"
Maya's voice stayed level.
"Did you see what happened in the dining room?"
"From the hallway."
"Did Brooklyn step into Anastasia?"
"Yes."
"Did Callan slap her?"
June's answer came immediately.
"Yes."
"Did Anastasia throw the oil before or after Callan moved toward her again?"
June swallowed.
"After."
"Did he raise his hand?"
"I couldn't see his hand."
Maya nodded.
"Thank you for not guessing."
June's shoulders sagged.
Then she reached into her purse.
"I brought something."
She placed a small flash drive on the desk.
Anastasia stared at it.
"What is that?"
"Melissa's study has a printer that stores recent scanned documents."
June looked frightened again.
"Before I left the wedding, I copied the scan history."
Maya did not touch the drive.
"What's on it?"
June's voice dropped to a whisper.
"A draft agreement with your name on it."
"What agreement?"
June looked at Anastasia.
May you like
"The one they planned to make you sign after you apologized."
And suddenly, the lunch had an ending Anastasia had never been allowed to reach.
