PART 5
For several seconds after Elden hung up, I couldn’t move.
Cecily was standing across from me with both hands pressed against the kitchen counter.
“What did he mean?” she asked.
I looked at her.
“He said his first wife didn’t fall.”
Cecily’s face went pale.
“Then what happened?”
“I don’t know.”
My phone rang again.
This time, it was Christine.
I answered immediately.
“Christine, I need you to find everything about Elden’s first wife.”
“I already started.”
My heart sank.
“You knew?”
“I suspected there was something unusual when I saw the estate records.”
“What did you find?”
“Her name was Marlene Whitcomb.”
“Was?”
“Yes. She died three years ago.”
“How?”
“Officially, accidental fall.”
I closed my eyes.
“That’s what Elden said.”
Christine continued.
“But there’s more.”
“Of course there is.”
“The death certificate says she fell from a staircase inside their home.”
“Was anyone charged?”
“No.”
“Any investigation?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Closed within weeks.”
I felt a chill.
“Why?”
“Her family accepted the ruling.”
“Why?”
“Because there was apparently no evidence of foul play.”
I looked at Cecily.
“Apparently?”
Christine paused.
“June, there’s something else you need to know.”
“What?”
“Marlene had a life insurance policy.”
“How much?”
“Two million dollars.”
I felt sick.
“Who received it?”
“Elden.”
The room went silent.
“And Dean?”
“Dean was listed as secondary beneficiary.”
I sat down.
Christine continued.
“The policy was paid out six weeks after Marlene died.”
I looked at the photograph still open on my phone.
Elden.
The banker.
My name on the folder.
Six months before our wedding.
Everything was beginning to connect.
“Christine.”
“Yes?”
“Did Elden know about my inheritance before Marlene died?”
“No.”
“So why did he start looking into my assets before we married?”
“We’re trying to establish that.”
“Try harder.”
“I will.”
I hung up.
Cecily sat beside me.
“Mom, you need to go somewhere safe.”
“I am safe.”
“No.”
She took my hand.
“You’re not.”
I looked at her.
“I think I am.”
“Why?”
“Because now I know they’re watching.”
She stared at me.
I continued.
“People are dangerous when they think you don’t know what they’re doing.”
“And now?”
“Now they know I know.”
That was when I made a decision.
I wasn’t going to confront Elden.
I wasn’t going to threaten Dean.
I wasn’t going to tell them what I knew.
I was going to let them believe I was frightened.
Because fear makes people careless.
And careless people leave evidence.
Three days passed.
Elden called seventeen times.
I answered none of them.
Dean sent two messages.
I ignored both.
Christine worked constantly.
The forensic accountant found more than we expected.
The hotel project was deeply underwater.
Invoices had been inflated.
Money had been transferred between companies.
Loans had been used to cover earlier loans.
And some of the money had gone toward personal expenses.
Cars.
Private memberships.
Real estate.
Credit card payments.
There was no successful hotel empire waiting on the other side of my house.
There was a financial structure already collapsing.
My house wasn’t supposed to build their future.
It was supposed to delay their past from catching up with them.
Then Christine found something that changed everything.
She called me at 11:32 on Thursday night.
“June.”
“What?”
“We found the person who sent you the photograph.”
“Who?”
“You’re not going to believe this.”
“Tell me.”
“It was Marlene’s sister.”
I sat upright.
“She’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“North Carolina.”
“Why would she contact me?”
“She says she has something that belongs to you.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she say?”
“No.”
“Then find out.”
“She wants to meet you.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
I looked at the clock.
“Where?”
“Public place. Her attorney’s office.”
I agreed.
The next afternoon, I met a woman named Evelyn Whitcomb.
She was sixty-two.
Gray hair.
Tired eyes.
A small leather bag held tightly against her chest.
When she saw me, she didn’t shake my hand.
She simply stared at me.
“You’re June.”
“Yes.”
“You look like Marlene.”
I had never heard her name spoken by a stranger before.
“Why did you contact me?”
Evelyn sat down.
“Because Marlene tried to warn me.”
“About Elden?”
She nodded.
“She knew he was lying.”
“About what?”
“Money.”
I leaned forward.
“How?”
Evelyn opened the leather bag.
Inside was a small digital recorder.
“She gave me this three days before she died.”
My heart began pounding.
“What is it?”
“Her voice.”
I looked at the recorder.
“Why didn’t you give it to the police?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of Elden?”
“Yes.”
“Then why give it to me?”
Evelyn looked into my eyes.
“Because Marlene told me that if anything happened to her, I should wait until Elden remarried.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“Because she believed he would eventually find another woman with money.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Evelyn pressed the recorder into my hand.
“She told me your name.”
I stared at her.
“My name?”
“No. She didn’t know your name.”
She swallowed.
“She said, ‘The next woman will have money. He always looks for women who can solve his problems.’”
My hands shook.
I pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman’s voice.
Marlene.
Her voice was quiet.
Afraid.
But clear.
“If you’re hearing this, something happened to me.”
I looked at Evelyn.
The recording continued.
“Elden has debts I didn’t know about.”
A pause.
