Chapter 4 - The First CrackVictor expected the insurance company to pay within days.
Instead, he received a letter.
CLAIM UNDER INVESTIGATION.
He panicked.
I watched from my hospital room as his lawyer called him.
The conversation was recorded.
“Why is the claim delayed?”
“They're reviewing the circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
“Your wife's body was never recovered.”
Victor froze.
“What?”
“The mountain search didn't recover remains.”
He swallowed.
“They froze.”
“Then why wasn't the body found?”
“I don't know.”
His lawyer sighed.
“Victor, insurance investigators are asking questions.”
Victor ended the call.
Then he called Serena.
“You said she was dead.”
“She fell.”
“You saw her fall.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the body?”
“No.”
Victor's voice became furious.
“Then how do you know she's dead?”
Silence.
I watched the recording.
Serena began crying.
“I thought…”
“You thought?”
Victor slammed something.
“You said she couldn't survive.”
“She was nine months pregnant!”
“That doesn't mean anything!”
I looked away.
Adrian noticed.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
I touched my stomach.
“My baby is stronger than both of them.”
Adrian smiled faintly.
“He gets that from you.”
That evening, something unexpected happened.
The hospital administrator entered.
“Mrs. Cross?”
I looked up.
“Yes?”
“You have a visitor.”
“Who?”
“A detective.”
My heart tightened.
Adrian stood.
“Send him in.”
A man entered carrying a folder.
“My name is Detective Mason Reed.”
He looked at me.
“We believe your husband may have attempted to murder you.”
I stared at him.
“You know?”
“We know enough.”
He placed photographs on the table.
The mountain.
Victor's vehicle.
Tire tracks.
A cigarette butt.
And something else.
A security camera image.
Victor standing near the cliff.
Serena beside him.
The timestamp was clear.
Two minutes before my fall.
I whispered:
“He didn't know there were cameras.”
Detective Reed nodded.
“No.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“And that's going to be his biggest mistake.”
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