Chapter 2 - THE FILE LABELED “WIDOWS”
Gabriel read the file twice.
Then a third time.
The first page contained names, addresses, dates, and financial information.
Most of the women were widows.
Some had inherited money after their husbands died.
Others owned property.
One had received a large insurance settlement.
Another had recently sold a farm.
Gabriel didn't understand what Candice had to do with them.
Until he found the photographs.
Candice appeared beside several of the women.
At charity events.
At church gatherings.
At hospital fundraisers.
Always smiling.
Always standing close.
Gabriel turned another page.
There were notes written in Candice's handwriting.
Lives alone.
No children nearby.
Inherited $480,000.
Needs help managing accounts.
Gabriel felt sick.
He opened another folder.
This one contained bank statements.
Transfers.
Small amounts at first.
Then larger ones.
He saw the name of a company he didn't recognize.
L & C Financial Services.
The account had received money from several of the women listed in the file.
Gabriel heard footsteps behind him.
He turned.
Lucas stood in the doorway.
“What are you doing?”
Gabriel closed the folder.
“Did you know about this?”
Lucas shook his head.
“Mom said never to go in her room.”
Gabriel looked at him carefully.
“Lucas, did Candice ever ask you to sign anything?”
The boy hesitated.
“Once.”
“What?”
“She said it was for school.”
Gabriel's blood went cold.
“Did you sign it?”
Lucas nodded.
“Where?”
“At the kitchen table.”
“Do you remember what it said?”
“No.”
Gabriel immediately took photographs of the documents.
Then he called the only person he trusted.
His older sister, Elaine, was a retired financial investigator.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Gabriel?”
“I need you to come over.”
“What happened?”
“I found something.”
“What kind of something?”
Gabriel looked at the folder.
“I think my wife may be stealing money from elderly women.”
There was silence.
Then Elaine said:
“Don't confront her.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Don't move anything else.”
“I already touched the files.”
“Then photograph everything. Put it back exactly where you found it.”
Gabriel looked toward the hallway.
“And Elaine?”
“Yes?”
“I found Clara's name.”
His sister went quiet.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m looking at it.”
“Gabriel, listen to me. Whatever you found, don't make assumptions.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Gabriel looked at Lucas.
The boy had bruises on his arms.
“I know exactly what I saw.”
Before Elaine arrived, Gabriel searched the house.
Not recklessly.
Carefully.
He found cameras.
One in the living room.
One pointed toward the kitchen.
One hidden near the hallway.
Gabriel had never installed them.
Candice had.
He connected the system to the television.
The recordings were still stored.
Gabriel selected the previous week.
The screen came alive.
Lucas stood in the kitchen.
Candice was in front of him.
“You think your father is coming home early?”
Lucas said nothing.
Candice slammed a plate onto the table.
“Answer me.”
“No.”
“Then why were you looking at the driveway?”
Lucas lowered his head.
Candice grabbed his arm.
Gabriel saw the boy wince.
“You don't get to miss him,” she said.
Gabriel's hand tightened around the remote.
Then Wyatt entered.
He laughed.
“Can I have his phone?”
Candice smiled.
“If he finishes the laundry.”
The recording continued.
Lucas spent the next three hours washing clothes.
Gabriel turned off the screen.
He was shaking.
But the worst was still waiting.
He returned to the master bedroom.
Behind a row of clothes in Candice's closet, he found a small locked box.
The key was taped beneath the dresser.
Inside were old documents.
One envelope carried Clara's name.
Gabriel opened it.
The first page was a medical report.
Clara's cancer diagnosis.
The second was a life insurance policy.
The third was a handwritten note.
Gabriel recognized the handwriting immediately.
Clara's.
If anything happens to me, please make sure Gabriel knows the truth about Candice.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
He read the next line.
She came to the hospital before I died. She asked questions about my insurance.
Gabriel sat on the edge of the bed.
His wife had died six years earlier.
Candice had entered his life two years later.
But Clara had known her.
Somehow.
The doorbell rang.
Gabriel looked toward the stairs.
Elaine had arrived.
He quickly returned the documents to the box.
But before he could close it, he noticed one final envelope.
It was addressed to him.
The date was six years old.
The day before Clara died.
Gabriel opened it.
May you like
Inside was one sentence.
Gabriel, if you're reading this, I was right to be afraid.
