Chapter 8 - Lydia CrossEleanor escaped through the hidden passage.
Police arrived twenty minutes later.
Not because I called them.
Because Harold did.
The officers questioned everyone.
Derek was silent.
Margaret returned after hearing gunshots.
Jenna brought the children to a neighbor.
I sat in the library staring at the marriage certificate.
Lydia Cross.
Derek's first wife.
I couldn't stop looking at her name.
Samantha arrived before dawn.
I handed her the document.
She read it.
Then looked at me.
“Did you know about this?”
“No.”
She flipped the page.
“This is significant.”
“Why?”
“Because if he was legally married when he married you, several financial transactions could be affected.”
I stared.
“How?”
She pointed to a section.
“Joint assets.”
I understood.
“If the first marriage wasn't dissolved…”
She nodded.
“Then Derek may have had no legal authority over certain transfers.”
I felt hope for the first time.
“Can we use this?”
“Yes.”
Samantha looked at Harold.
“Tell me everything.”
Harold told her.
The company.
The trust.
Eleanor.
The hidden shares.
Derek's involvement.
But there was one thing even he didn't know.
Lydia Cross was not just Derek's first wife.
She was dead.
Officially.
Her death certificate showed she had died in a boating accident nine years earlier.
I looked at the paper.
“What if she didn't die?”
Samantha frowned.
“Why?”
“The certificate was filed by Derek.”
Everyone froze.
“Derek reported her death?”
“Yes.”
Harold's face went pale.
“That means…”
He didn't finish.
I did.
“He murdered her.”
Derek finally spoke.
“No.”
I turned.
He looked exhausted.
“Lydia died.”
“How?”
“I wasn't there.”
“Who was?”
He said nothing.
I walked toward him.
“You knew Eleanor.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your first wife was supposedly dead.”
“Yes.”
“And you still married me.”
He closed his eyes.
“I thought I could control the situation.”
I laughed.
“You couldn't even control your mother.”
He looked at me.
“Claire, I never expected to love you.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“Don't.”
“But I did.”
“Don't make this about love.”
“It is.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“Love doesn't pour ice water over someone on her birthday.”
He had no answer.
Samantha gathered the documents.
“We need to locate Lydia.”
“She's dead,” Derek whispered.
I shook my head.
“No.”
I held up the certificate.
“Her death was declared by you.”
Then I showed him something else.
A bank record Samantha had discovered.
A monthly payment.
For the last seven years.
Sent to an offshore account.
Beneficiary:
L. Cross.
Derek stared.
His face went white.
“That’s impossible.”
Samantha looked at me.
“Apparently not.”
I smiled.
“Then Lydia Cross is alive.”
At that exact moment, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered,
“Claire?”
“Yes?”
“My name is Lydia.”
I stopped breathing.
Then she said,
“Your husband didn't kill me.”
May you like
A pause.
“He tried.”
