Chapter 7 - Two Women, One Marriage
Charles met Natalie Cross first.
Not Courtney.
At least he believed he did.
The woman introduced herself as Courtney at the charity event.
She dated him for four months.
Then disappeared for two weeks.
When she returned, Charles noticed changes.
Different perfume.
Stopped drinking coffee.
Suddenly hated seafood.
He joked marriage had made her unpredictable.
He never considered twins.
Who would?
Investigators reconstructed the scheme.
Courtney and Natalie Cross had been switching identities for years.
One created relationships.
The other handled transactions.
Both worked with their father.
But which sister had married Charles legally?
DNA from the house complicated everything.
Two female profiles.
Both closely related.
The woman who laughed while I went into labor?
We didn’t know which one she was.
Then the blood from Martin’s trunk came back.
Natalie Cross.
A substantial amount.
Enough to suggest serious injury.
Courtney was now the primary suspect in her sister’s disappearance.
Except Martin remained missing too.
Samantha and I reviewed Lucas’s files.
One video showed him meeting a woman who looked like Courtney.
But she was crying.
“I want out,” she told him.
Lucas asked:
“Does your sister know you’re here?”
“No.”
“Martin?”
“No.”
Then:
“He’ll kill me if he finds out.”
Lucas leaned forward.
“Tell me everything.”
The video ended.
Timestamp:
Two days before Lucas died.
That woman was Natalie.
We confirmed it from a small tattoo on her wrist.
Natalie had become Lucas’s informant.
She wanted to expose her father and sister.
Forty-eight hours later, Lucas was dead.
Now Natalie was missing.
I felt sick.
“Martin found out.”
Samantha nodded.
“Or Courtney did.”
Then another file surfaced.
Natalie had given Lucas copies of encrypted messages.
One from Martin:
L.G. handled Friday. After funeral, move phase two.
L.G.
Lucas Gallagher.
Handled Friday.
His accident occurred Friday night.
I stopped reading.
That was enough.
Police upgraded the investigation.
Potential homicide conspiracy.
Then one message changed the direction again.
Courtney to Martin:
You said scare him, not kill him.
Martin replied:
Don’t ask questions you don’t want answered.
Courtney may have participated in fraud.
But Lucas’s death frightened even her.
Then where was she?
My father knew.
Not intentionally.
He remembered Courtney maintaining a small apartment before marriage.
“She said she ended the lease.”
She hadn’t.
Police entered that evening.
Courtney was inside.
Alive.
Terrified.
She surrendered immediately.
“Where’s Martin?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where’s Natalie?”
Courtney started crying.
“My father took her.”
Ruiz asked:
“Why is Natalie’s blood in his car?”
“Because she tried to escape.”
“Where?”
Courtney gave them an address.
An abandoned warehouse owned by another shell company.
Police moved.
They found Natalie.
Alive.
Injured.
Locked inside an office.
But Martin was gone.
Again.
Natalie asked one question after paramedics stabilized her.
“Victoria Gallagher?”
Ruiz called me.
I spoke through video.
“I’m here.”
Natalie’s face was bruised.
Her voice weak.
“Lucas didn’t die because he found the stolen money.”
My heart stopped.
“Then why?”
“Because he found what Martin was really selling.”
“What?”
Natalie looked toward the officers around her.
“Your father’s trucks.”
I frowned.
“What about them?”
May you like
“They weren’t only moving freight.”
And suddenly the $14 million wasn’t the biggest crime anymore.
