Chapter 2 - THE SECOND SAFE
Victoria ran.
Edward went after her.
She reached the circular driveway before he caught up.
“Stop!”
Victoria spun beside her white Mercedes.
“Get away from me.”
“Who are you?”
“Your wife.”
“My mother says otherwise.”
“Your mother is sick.”
Edward stepped closer.
“And terrified of you.”
“She hates me.”
“She was bleeding.”
Victoria opened the driver’s door.
Edward slammed it shut.
“Answer me.”
For a moment, the mask disappeared.
There was no panic in Victoria’s eyes.
Only calculation.
Then she smiled.
“You really want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Ask your mother why she had someone following me.”
Edward hesitated.
That was all Victoria needed.
She shoved him backward, jumped into the car, and locked the doors.
The engine roared.
Edward struck the window.
“Victoria!”
She lowered it two inches.
“You should have stayed at work today.”
Then she accelerated down the driveway.
Edward watched the car disappear through the iron gates.
His phone was already in his hand.
He called the police.
Then an ambulance.
Twenty minutes later, Florence was being examined in the mansion’s sitting room because she refused to go to the hospital until Edward saw the safe.
“Mom, this can wait.”
“No.”
“It can’t.”
Florence’s voice was weak but firm.
“She knows you saw me with the key.”
Edward looked toward the enormous portrait of his late father, Charles Hale.
Florence pointed.
“Move it.”
Edward and the family’s longtime groundskeeper, Samuel, lifted the painting away.
Behind it was a steel panel.
The golden key fit into a narrow slot beside the keypad.
Edward stared.
“I never knew this existed.”
“Your father built it.”
Florence entered six numbers.
The safe clicked open.
Inside were no diamonds.
No cash.
No expensive watches.
There were photographs.
Documents.
A small voice recorder.
And three newspaper clippings.
Edward picked up the first photograph.
It showed Victoria.
Except the date stamped in the corner was eight years before Edward had met her.
She stood beside an older man outside a courthouse.
On the back, someone had written:
VANESSA CROWE AND MARTIN BENNETT — WEDDING DAY.
Edward’s mouth went dry.
He grabbed the newspaper clipping.
LOCAL DEVELOPER DIES AFTER FALL AT PRIVATE RESIDENCE.
The victim was Martin Bennett.
His widow was listed as Vanessa Bennett.
The photograph printed beside the story showed Victoria.
Edward looked at Florence.
“She was married?”
Florence nodded.
“Twice before you.”
Edward reached for the second clipping.
Another man.
Another death.
Different state.
Different name.
Same woman.
His hands began shaking.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I needed proof.”
“This is proof!”
“No.”
Florence pointed toward the recorder.
“That is.”
Edward pressed PLAY.
Static filled the room.
Then Victoria’s voice.
Calm.
Cold.
Unmistakable.
“I don’t care how long it takes.”
A man answered.
“And if Florence refuses to change the will?”
Victoria laughed softly.
“Then she won’t be around to sign anything at all.”
Edward stopped the recording.
His face had gone gray.
“Who is the man?”
Florence whispered,
“Someone named Daniel Cross.”
Edward looked toward the safe.
There was one final envelope.
His name was written across it.
EDWARD — OPEN ONLY IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME.
He tore it open.
Inside was a laboratory report.
At the bottom, Florence had circled one sentence in red.
THE TABLETS SUBMITTED FOR TESTING DO NOT MATCH THE MEDICATION PRESCRIBED TO THE PATIENT.
Edward slowly looked at his mother.
“Who gives you your medicine?”
May you like
Florence’s eyes filled with tears.
“Victoria.”
