Chapter 10 - THE DEAD BRIDE
Rebecca planned to disappear.
Not die.
Disappear.
Her car would be found near the Delaware River.
Blood inside.
My fingerprints on objects planted in the vehicle.
A piece of my suit from the wedding.
Threatening text messages sent from a cloned number.
And a statement Diane was supposed to give police.
“She wanted me to say you threatened to kill her after the wedding.”
Hall stared at Diane.
“You agreed?”
Diane looked sick.
“I agreed before I realized what she was really doing.”
I shook my head.
“You hacked legal files, forged documents, terrorized a child, and now you found a conscience?”
Her eyes dropped.
“No.”
At least that answer was honest.
“I got scared.”
“Of prison?”
“Yes.”
Hall took her away for questioning.
At dawn, police found Rebecca’s car.
Exactly where Diane said it would be.
Blood on the driver’s seat.
Later tests proved it was Rebecca’s.
Not enough to kill her.
But enough for a story.
My cufflink was under the seat.
My wedding program was torn on the floor.
A knife sat in the trunk.
I had never seen it.
Hall looked at me.
“If Diane hadn’t talked, this would look very bad.”
“How bad?”
He stared at the river.
“Arrest bad.”
For the first time, I understood how close Rebecca had come.
One note.
That was all that saved me.
One crumpled note handed to me by a terrified seven-year-old.
If Emily had stayed quiet for ten more minutes, I would have married Rebecca.
Hours later, Emily would have vanished into Hawthorne.
And by the time I realized anything, Rebecca would own half the battlefield.
Maybe all of it.
My phone rang.
Mark.
His voice was urgent.
“Daniel, get back to the house.”
“What happened?”
“We found something on the wedding videographer’s raw footage.”
I drove home.
Mark had a laptop open.
The footage showed the chapel thirty minutes before the ceremony.
Rebecca stood in a side hallway.
Mercer was beside her.
No one knew he had attended.
He wore a catering uniform.
They were arguing.
The audio was faint.
Mark boosted it.
Mercer said:
“You promised me the properties.”
Rebecca replied:
“You’ll get your money.”
“I want all of it.”
“You get thirty percent.”
“You need me.”
Rebecca laughed.
“Not after today.”
Mercer grabbed her arm.
She pulled away.
Then he said something that changed everything.
“What happens when Daniel figures out you did the same thing to Michael?”
Rebecca went still.
I paused the video.
“Who is Michael?”
Mark didn’t know.
Claire did.
She was standing behind us.
Her face had gone pale.
“Michael Sloan.”
I turned.
“Who?”
“Rebecca’s first husband.”
I stared at her.
“She told me she was never married.”
Claire nodded.
“I know.”
“What happened to him?”
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
“He disappeared nine years ago.”
The room went silent.
I looked back at Rebecca’s frozen image on the screen.
Mark slowly said:
“Daniel…”
I already knew what he was thinking.
Rebecca might not have invented her fake-death plan for me.
May you like
She might have used it before.
But this time, maybe someone else had actually died.
