My act of kindness hadn’t simply saved Eleanor from being alone during a terrifying moment.
It had destroyed the timeline of Marcus’s entire scheme.
But Marcus had disappeared.
His phone was off.
His car had been abandoned near the airport.
Claire stood trembling near the windows.
“I married him.”
Eleanor embraced her.
“You didn’t know.”
“I slept beside him.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I gave him everything.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“So did I.”
That evening, as investigators prepared to leave, Claire approached me.
“Christopher.”
I turned.
She looked exhausted.
“Technically…”
She gave a broken laugh.
“You’re family.”
I didn’t know what to say.
Neither did she.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT DRIVING.
Below the message was a photograph.
My house.
Taken from across the street.
And through the front window, clearly visible beneath the living-room lights…
