“When Laura is gone, he’ll need someone.”
My entire body went cold.
But the next sentence was worse.
“No. The child stays. Getting rid of Sophie would make him suspicious.”
I nearly threw the laptop.
Aaron stopped me.
“There’s more.”
Another recording showed Natalie arguing with Laura.
Laura accused her of stealing information from the house.
Natalie laughed.
Then she said something about “the old arrangement.”
Laura answered, “Your husband knows what you are.”
Natalie immediately lunged toward the camera.
The video ended.
I stared at Aaron.
“Husband?”
“I didn’t know either.”
Laura had discovered Natalie had been married years earlier.
A man named Marcus Vale.
According to old records, Marcus vanished after a boating accident.
His body was never recovered.
A retired detective named Harold Pierce had investigated the disappearance.
Aaron took me to see him.
Pierce lived alone in a small house filled with old case files.
The moment I showed him Natalie’s photograph, he sighed.
“I wondered when that name would come back.”
He pulled out a file.
Natalie had married Marcus at twenty-six.
Friends described the relationship as intense.
Controlling.
Volatile.
According to Pierce, Marcus had tried to leave after discovering that Natalie had been using his accounts, monitoring his calls and impersonating him online.
Three weeks later, his boat was found empty.
Natalie claimed he had abandoned her.
Pierce never believed it.
“But you couldn't prove anything,” I said.
“No.”
“Do you think she killed him?”
Pierce looked at me for a long moment.
“I think Marcus was afraid of her.”
That was not the same answer.
But it was close enough.
Then Pierce showed me an old photograph.
Natalie and Marcus at a barbecue.
Several people stood behind them.
One was Laura.
Much younger.
Maybe twenty-two.
Natalie had lied again.
She had not met Laura through work.
They had known each other for years.
When I confronted Aaron, he finally told me what Laura had discovered.
Laura and Natalie had grown up in the same neighborhood.
They attended the same high school.
For years, Natalie measured herself against Laura.
Grades.
Friends.
Relationships.
Jobs.
Laura eventually cut contact because Natalie’s behavior became obsessive.
Years later, Natalie resurfaced.