I called the Mansfield Keats after-hours line at 12:06 a.m. I gave my name, employee ID, policy number, damage description, and probable intent. The agent asked three questions, then issued a claim reference number.
“Do you want us to flag this for SIU review?”
Special Investigations Unit.
“Yes,” I said.
Graham Alden, the estate’s night suite manager, arrived at 12:18 a.m. He looked at the room and understood immediately.
“Miss LeChance, I can pull keycard logs and lobby cameras. Do you want me to seal the room?”
“Yes.”
He filled out an incident report, sealed the door with silver tape, initialed each strip, and handed me a copy.
Nathan came five minutes later. Hollis had called him. He did not rush in with useless panic. He removed his watch, rolled up his sleeves, and said,
“Do you want me to call Everett, or do you want me to stand here?”
Everett Pike was his attorney.
“Call Everett,” I said. “And stand here.”
For the next few hours, Hollis and I photographed everything. Forty-one cuts. Forty-one photos. One file for each wound. On one photo, I noticed a cut shaped like the letter L inside the underskirt. It was not a seam. It was a signature.
By 3:30 a.m., Graham had the keycard logs. He read them aloud. My mother had requested a duplicate key at 9:04 p.m. Brooke entered the suite at 11:13 p.m. and left at 11:36. I entered at 11:44.
Then Graham played the lobby camera footage. It showed my mother in the parking lot at 11:11 p.m., handing Brooke the keycard. Brooke walked toward the suite. My mother returned to the bar and ordered another glass of wine while my dress was being destroyed upstairs.
At 3:41 a.m., I emailed everything to the SIU liaison, Juliet Marsden: photos, affidavits, keycard logs, lobby footage, chain of custody. For my mother’s role, I wrote only: Catherine LeChance pending.
I wanted to be correct.
At 5:40 a.m., I crossed the wet lawn to my mother’s cottage. The door was unlocked. Inside, her iMac was open to Gmail. On the screen was a draft thread with Brooke.
I did not touch the computer. I photographed the screen with my phone.
The emails began three weeks before the wedding.
