Julian stood beside the river wearing soaked clothes.
He looked devastated.
“I tried to help them,” he told the reporter. “I watched the SUV disappear. I should have been able to do more.”
Behind him stood Chloe.
One hand rested over her stomach.
The other held a tissue to her eyes.
I felt physically ill.
Then Mason’s phone vibrated.
An encrypted audio file had arrived.
It came from Martha, our family housekeeper of twenty years.
Mason had quietly trusted her with some of his suspicions.
Earlier that week, she had captured a conversation from Julian’s private study.
Mason pressed play.
Chloe’s voice came first.
“Are you sure Valerie couldn’t get out?”
Julian laughed.
“I made sure the seatbelt wouldn’t release easily. And Mason couldn’t possibly help her.”
Chloe laughed softly.
My hands began shaking.
Then Julian said something even worse.
“The river wasn’t the only plan. I’ve been secretly giving Valerie something that gradually weakened her health. Small enough that nobody would immediately connect the symptoms.”
I pressed a hand against my chest.
Suddenly, the previous two years made sense.
The unexplained exhaustion.
The occasional dizziness.
The hair loss.
The medical appointments where doctors couldn’t identify one clear cause.
Julian attended nearly every appointment.
He held my hand.
He acted worried.
He always encouraged me to drink the warm milk he prepared at night.
“Drink this, sweetheart. It’ll help you sleep.”
The memory made my stomach turn.
On the recording, Chloe asked,
