Chapter 8 - My wife became the suspect
Audrey refused to believe it.
I wanted to refuse too.
But the signatures looked real.
Forensic comparison confirmed several likely were.
Rebecca had authorized transfers involving shell charities and procurement companies.
Millions.
Years after her supposed death.
“Maybe she was undercover,” Audrey argued.
Possible.
But undercover work doesn't explain everything.
One transfer went directly to Julian Thorne.
$240,000.
Eighteen months before he married Audrey.
My stomach turned.
Had Rebecca known Julian?
Had she paid him?
Then Julian disappeared.
His bond conditions prohibited travel.
His ankle monitor was found beside a highway.
Blood nearby.
No body.
Miriam blamed me.
Arthur blamed Margaret.
Audrey blamed herself.
Then police searched Julian’s private office.
Inside was a hidden safe.
Photographs of Audrey.
Years before they met.
College.
Graduation.
Coffee shops.
Running trails.
Someone had been monitoring my daughter long before Julian supposedly fell in love with her.
One photograph showed Julian watching Audrey from across a campus courtyard.
Date:
Six months before their “first meeting.”
Audrey stared at it.
“My marriage was planned.”
Maybe.
But by whom?
Then we found correspondence.
Julian had received instructions from an anonymous account.
Approach Audrey.
Do not mention her mother.
Gain Daniel's trust.
Most disturbing:
Make her believe choosing you was her idea.
Audrey tore off her wedding ring.
I expected her to cry.
She didn't.
Something inside my daughter changed.
“What else?”
That question frightened me.
She wasn't collapsing anymore.
She wanted war.
Ortiz traced the anonymous account through six servers.
Finally, a recovery email.
Rebecca.H@—
My wife's name.
Audrey stared at me.
“Mom sent him?”
I couldn't speak.
Then another message appeared.
Sent two years into Audrey and Julian's marriage.
She suspects nothing. Keep Daniel away from Silver Street.
The message was signed:
R.
If authentic, Rebecca had helped place Julian into our daughter's life.
But then why warn me years earlier that Audrey must never marry into the Thorne family?
Two opposite Rebeccas existed in the evidence.
One protecting Audrey.
One delivering her to Julian.
Only one could be real.
May you like
Unless someone had been using Rebecca’s identity too.
Just like mine.
