CHAPTER 3 The First Woman
Rain lashed against the windshield as Richard Howard sped back toward the mansion.
His knuckles were white against the steering wheel.
Detective Ruiz's final words refused to leave his mind.
"Your wife wasn't the first target."
The sentence replayed over and over.
Not the first.
Which meant...
Someone else had come before Elena.
Someone who had never been mentioned.
Someone who had disappeared from the Howard family's history.
Back at the mansion, police officers filled every corridor.
Evidence markers dotted the marble floor where Elena had fallen.
Forensic photographers documented the staircase from every angle.
No one was allowed to leave.
Vanessa sat alone in the drawing room.
A female officer stood quietly by the door.
She wasn't handcuffed.
Not yet.
But she understood the message.
She was no longer a guest.
She was a suspect.
For the first time in years, Vanessa couldn't control the room with a smile.
Richard entered through the front doors without saying a word.
Ruiz was waiting in the library.
The detective had spread dozens of photographs across the massive oak table.
"Sit."
Richard obeyed.
Ruiz slid one photograph toward him.
It showed a smiling young blonde woman standing beside Richard.
He stared at it.
His expression changed.
"...Claire."
Ruiz nodded.
"You remember her."
"Of course I remember her."
Richard swallowed hard.
"We dated briefly before I met Elena."
"She moved overseas."
"That's what everyone believed."
Ruiz slowly placed a second photograph beside the first.
This one had been taken in a morgue.
The same woman.
Older.
Pale.
A medical tag hung from her wrist.
Richard felt the room spin.
"What..."
"What is this?"
Ruiz answered quietly.
"Claire Benson never left the country."
"She died."
"Three years ago."
Silence consumed the room.
Richard couldn't take his eyes off the photograph.
"No..."
"That's impossible."
"Her family told everyone she accepted a job in Europe."
Ruiz opened another file.
"They were paid."
Richard looked up sharply.
"Paid?"
"Someone transferred two million dollars into accounts belonging to Claire's parents."
"They disappeared shortly afterward."
"They've never spoken publicly again."
Richard's breathing became uneven.
"Who paid them?"
Ruiz didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he pushed forward a bank statement.
One company name had been highlighted.
Silver Crest Holdings.
Richard frowned.
"I've never heard of it."
"You have."
Ruiz leaned forward.
"You just don't know it."
He turned another page.
The company's ultimate owner had been hidden behind six shell corporations.
But Elena had followed the money.
The final beneficiary's name appeared.
Vanessa Sinclair.
Across the mansion...
Vanessa watched through the window as officers searched the gardens.
Flashlights swept across flower beds.
Metal detectors scanned the ground.
Why the gardens?
What were they looking for?
She tried to remain calm.
Everything dangerous had been removed months ago.
Hadn't it?
Then she remembered.
Her smile vanished.
The greenhouse.
Without warning, she stood.
"I need the restroom."
The officer beside the door shook her head.
"I'm sorry."
"You'll have to wait."
Vanessa forced another smile.
"It's an emergency."
The officer didn't move.
Vanessa understood.
She was trapped.
Ruiz continued.
"Elena started investigating after she found an old engagement ring."
Richard looked confused.
"What ring?"
"The one you never knew existed."
Ruiz placed a velvet jewelry box on the table.
Richard slowly opened it.
Inside rested a diamond ring.
Simple.
Elegant.
Engraved inside the band were two initials.
R.C.
Richard's face lost all color.
"...Richard."
"...Claire."
He whispered the names as if speaking them aloud might change reality.
"I bought this."
Ruiz nodded.
"We know."
"But Claire never received it."
Richard looked up.
"What do you mean?"
Ruiz slid over another photograph.
It showed the master bedroom.
The same room Richard and Elena shared today.
The image had been taken years earlier.
Hidden inside an air vent...
The engagement ring had remained untouched.
For three years.
Richard closed his eyes.
"I searched everywhere."
"I thought I'd lost it."
Ruiz spoke carefully.
"You didn't lose it."
"Someone hid it."
At St. Vincent Medical Center...
The operating room doors finally opened.
A surgeon stepped into the waiting area.
Richard wasn't there.
Only Mrs. Howard.
The older woman rushed forward.
"My daughter-in-law?"
The surgeon smiled faintly.
"She's alive."
Mrs. Howard nearly collapsed from relief.
"And the baby?"
The surgeon hesitated.
"The baby survived."
"But..."
"There were complications."
"What complications?"
"We had to perform an emergency delivery."
Mrs. Howard covered her mouth.
"So early?"
The surgeon nodded.
"The child is alive."
"She's in neonatal intensive care."
"Your granddaughter is a fighter."
Tears streamed down Mrs. Howard's face.
Inside the recovery room...
Elena slowly opened her eyes.
Everything hurt.
Machines beeped softly around her.
She instinctively reached toward her stomach.
Nothing.
Panic exploded inside her.
A nurse hurried over.
"Your baby is safe."
Elena stopped breathing for a second.
"Safe?"
The nurse smiled.
"A little early."
"But alive."
Elena finally allowed herself to cry.
Not from pain.
Not from fear.
From relief.
Back at the mansion...
An officer rushed into the library.
"Detective!"
Ruiz looked up.
"What is it?"
"We found something in the greenhouse."
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Too late.
Everyone walked outside.
Rain had slowed to a drizzle.
Behind the mansion stood an enormous glass greenhouse filled with exotic flowers.
Several officers surrounded one corner.
The earth had been freshly disturbed.
A shovel rested nearby.
Ruiz crouched beside the hole.
"Dig."
Within minutes...
The shovel struck metal.
Clang.
Another officer knelt.
Together they pulled a rusted steel box from the ground.
It had been buried carefully.
Years ago.
Ruiz opened it.
Inside lay:
Three burner phones.
A passport.
Stacks of cash.
Several USB drives.
And...
A bloodstained silk scarf.
Vanessa felt her legs weaken.
She recognized it instantly.
Claire's.
Richard picked up the scarf with trembling hands.
"There has to be an explanation."
Ruiz gently took it away.
"There will be."
"After laboratory testing."
Then another officer spoke.
"There's more."
He reached deeper into the box.
His hand emerged holding a small leather notebook.
The cover was worn.
The initials embossed in gold read:
C.B.
Claire Benson.
Ruiz carefully opened the first page.
The handwriting was unmistakably feminine.
He began reading aloud.
"If anyone finds this...
It means I was right to be afraid.
Vanessa says she loves Richard.
She also said...
If she can't have him...
No woman ever will."
Silence swallowed the greenhouse.
Richard's hands began to shake uncontrollably.
Ruiz slowly turned to Vanessa.
She no longer looked frightened.
She looked cornered.
And cornered people were unpredictable.
Vanessa suddenly smiled.
It wasn't the smile of a socialite.
It wasn't the smile of a mistress.
It was something far colder.
"You think you've won?"
Her voice was almost calm.
Ruiz didn't answer.
Vanessa looked directly at Richard.
Then she laughed.
A low, hollow laugh that echoed through the glass greenhouse.
"You still don't understand."
Richard stared at her.
"Understand what?"
Vanessa tilted her head.
"The biggest lie in this family..."
"...was never me."
She looked straight into Ruiz's eyes.
Then delivered the sentence that froze everyone in place.
May you like
"Ask Richard who really killed Claire."
End of Chapter 3
