“I hate leaving you to handle this pregnancy alone.”
“Two years and we’ll be free.”
That line made me pause.
Two years.
I had assumed Lucas used that length of time because it sounded believable for a foreign assignment. Long enough to explain absence. Not forever, not immediately suspicious.
But in his messages to Melanie, two years appeared again and again.
Two years and we’ll be free.
Free from what?
I opened the next attachment.
A lease agreement for the Palm Springs condominium. I had seen it before, but this copy had an additional page.
Occupants: Lucas Everett, Melanie Harper.
Expected move-in date: July 1.
Emergency contact: Grace Harper.
Grace’s name had been crossed out by hand.
Beside it, in Lucas’s handwriting, was another name.
Daniel Voss.
I stared at it.
I did not know the name.
The next attachment was a photo of a business card.
