Chapter 7
The room went silent.
I stared at the photograph in my hand.
Linda—Rachel—standing next to a known criminal.
"Done this before?" Sarah said, her voice sharp.
Clara nodded. She picked up the recorder and pressed play.
A woman's voice filled the room. Linda's voice. But she was talking to someone on the phone.
"...the divorce will be final in six months," the voice said. "And then I get half of everything. The house, the savings, the life insurance. This one is richer than the last one. And the kid... she's the perfect pawn. Everyone feels sorry for the poor stepmother trying to raise a grieving child."
There was a pause.
"Of course I'm being careful," Linda said. "I learned my lesson last time. No one will ever suspect. And if they do... well, accidents happen."
The recording stopped.
I felt sick.
"She married David for his money," I whispered.
"And she planned to kill him," Clara said. "For the life insurance. That's what the letters say. She wrote them to her partner—her brother, I think. Planning everything. How she'd make it look like an accident. How she'd get custody of Emma to look sympathetic. How she'd disappear with the money and start over somewhere new."
She handed me the letters.
They were chilling.
Detailed plans for David's "accidental" death. Notes on how to manipulate Emma. How to make the town fall in love with the poor grieving stepmother.
Sarah was already on her phone, taking photos of everything.
"This is gold," she said. "This destroys her completely. Fraud. Conspiracy to commit murder. Identity theft. She'll go away for a very long time."
Clara looked scared.
"If she finds out I have these..." she said.
"She won't find out from us," Sarah said. "We'll get this to the police. And we'll make sure you're protected."
Clara nodded, but she still looked terrified.
"There's something else," she said. "Something in the letters. About Emma."
I looked up. "What about Emma?"
Clara hesitated.
"Rachel—Linda—she didn't just choose David for his money," she said. "She chose him because of Emma."
"Why?"
Clara took a deep breath.
"Because Emma's mother—Sarah—she was rich too," Clara said. "Very rich. Her family had money. Old money. And when she died, she left everything to Emma. A trust fund. Millions of dollars. Emma gets it when she turns eighteen."
My blood ran cold.
"But if something happens to Emma before she turns eighteen..." Sarah said.
"The money goes to her guardian," Clara said. "Which would be Linda, if she got custody."
"So she wasn't just going to kill David," I said. "She was going to kill Emma too."
Clara nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"That's why I kept all this," she said. "I was scared. But I was more scared of what she'd do to them if I didn't have something to stop her."
I stood up.
"We need to get this to the police," I said. "Right now."
We left Clara's house and went straight to the police station.
Officer Hale looked at the evidence. The photographs. The letters. The recording.
His face got darker and darker.
"This changes everything," he said. "We'll issue a warrant for her arrest immediately. On fraud charges first, while we build the murder conspiracy case."
He picked up his phone.
But before he could dial, his own phone rang.
He answered it.
Listened.
His face went pale.
He hung up slowly.
"What is it?" I said.
"They went to Linda's house," he said. "To arrest her. She's gone."
"Gone?" Sarah said.
"Packed her bags and left," Officer Hale said. "No note. No forwarding address. Her car is gone too."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"She knows," I whispered. "She knows Clara talked to us. She knows we have the evidence."
"Or she got spooked by something else," Officer Hale said. "Either way, we need to find her. And fast. If she's desperate enough to run, she's desperate enough to do something stupid."
He looked at me.
"Where's David? And Emma?"
"At home," I said. "David's sister is with them."
Officer Hale was already on his feet.
"I'll send a patrol car there immediately," he said. "And I want you to go there too. Stay with them until we find her."
We drove to David's house.
A patrol car was already parked outside.
David met us at the door. He looked scared.
"She's gone?" he said.
I nodded. "But we have evidence. She's not who she says she is. She's a fraud. She married you for your money. And she was planning to kill you. And Emma."
David's face went white.
He stumbled back against the wall.
"Emma," he whispered. "Where's Emma?"
"Upstairs, playing," Clara said, walking up behind us. She'd decided to come with us, to be with her brother and niece.
David ran upstairs.
We followed.
Emma was in her room, sitting on her bed, drawing. She looked up when we walked in.
"Dad?" she said. "What's wrong?"
David dropped to his knees and pulled her into his arms. He held her so tight I thought he might never let go.
"Nothing's wrong, baby," he said, his voice breaking. "Nothing's wrong at all. You're safe. We're all safe."
Emma looked at me over his shoulder. She smiled. A small, brave smile.
I smiled back.
But inside, I was terrified.
Linda was out there somewhere.
She knew we had her.
And she had nothing left to lose.
That night, we all stayed at David's house. Clara. Sarah. Me. Two police officers parked outside.
We locked every door. Every window. We turned on every light.
Emma fell asleep in David's arms on the couch.
We sat in silence, watching her sleep.
At two in the morning, my phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
I opened it.
It was a photo.
Of me.
Taken from the bushes outside David's house. Just a few minutes ago.
And below the photo, a message.
"You think you've won? You have no idea what I'm capable of. I'm going to take everything from you. Starting with the little girl."
I looked up.
Out the window.
May you like
Into the darkness.
And I saw a shadow move.
