Chapter 8 - The Woman Before SkylarThe secret Derek thought was buried forever
Skylar heard the name Laura from Detective Alvarez the next morning.
“Laura Hayes.”
She frowned.
“Who is she?”
Alvarez placed a photograph on the table.
A woman in her early thirties.
Brown hair.
Small smile.
Normal.
She looked like someone who would have had groceries in her trunk and unfinished laundry at home.
“Laura was Derek's girlfriend before you.”
Skylar looked at the photograph.
“Why is she important?”
“She disappeared six years ago.”
Skylar's heart stopped.
“How?”
“No body was found.”
“Did Derek report her missing?”
“No.”
Skylar stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because according to him, they had broken up.”
Mara looked at Alvarez.
“Were they?”
The detective slid another file across the table.
Bank records.
Insurance documents.
Loan applications.
Skylar suddenly saw the pattern.
The same pattern.
The same structure.
The same signatures.
Laura had owned a small townhouse.
She had good credit.
She had life insurance.
She had no children.
And she had recently opened a home equity line.
Skylar whispered:
“It's the same.”
Alvarez nodded.
“Exactly.”
Skylar couldn't move.
“What happened to her?”
“We're reopening the case.”
“Why now?”
Alvarez looked at her.
“Because of Derek's drive.”
The black external drive found in the apartment had been sent to digital forensics.
Inside were years of encrypted files.
The investigators had cracked some of them.
One folder contained insurance policies.
Another contained financial transfers.
Another contained photographs.
Then they found Laura.
Not dead.
Not injured.
Alive in a photograph taken seven years earlier.
The photograph showed Laura standing beside Derek at a beach.
Someone had written a date on the image.
Three days before she disappeared.
The next file showed a bank transfer.
$42,000.
Then an insurance policy.
$200,000.
Then a property document.
Laura's townhouse.
Then a final audio recording.
Investigators played it.
A woman's voice filled the room.
“Derek, I know you lied to me.”
Silence.
Then Derek's voice.
“You're overreacting.”
Laura:
“You opened credit in my name.”
Derek:
“You can't prove that.”
Laura:
“I don't need to.”
The recording ended.
Skylar stared at Alvarez.
“Did she survive?”
“We don't know.”
“But her bank account?”
“Closed two weeks after her disappearance.”
“By whom?”
Alvarez looked at her.
“Derek.”
Skylar closed her eyes.
The room felt smaller.
She had spent nine years trying to understand why Derek wanted access to her money.
Now she knew.
This wasn't new.
It was a system.
A method.
A pattern.
Find women with assets.
Gain their trust.
Create financial dependence.
Use relatives and emotional pressure.
Then isolate them.
And when they resist...
Skylar looked at the photographs of her own car.
The insurance policy.
The forged loan application.
Her blood went cold.
“How many women?”
Alvarez hesitated.
“We don't know.”
That evening, the police searched Suzanne's home.
They found folders.
Dozens of them.
Names.
Addresses.
Credit scores.
Insurance information.
Property values.
Some belonged to women Suzanne knew.
Some belonged to women Derek had dated.
And some belonged to complete strangers.
Skylar's file was the largest.
At the bottom was a handwritten note:
PHASE THREE: ACCIDENT
Beneath it:
IF SHE REFUSES THE CARD
Skylar stared.
Mara took a slow breath.
“That's enough for probable cause.”
But Alvarez wasn't finished.
He opened another page.
A handwritten timeline.
Coffee incident.
Police response.
Financial freeze.
Move-out.
Then:
NEXT CONTACT: 48 HOURS
Skylar stared at the final line.
“What's that?”
Alvarez's expression became grim.
“It's dated tomorrow.”
Skylar's stomach dropped.
“What does it say?”
He turned the page.
May you like
Only five words were written.
MAKE HER COME BACK HOME.
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