Chapter 7 - The Woman My Husband Met Every Thursday
Just when I thought Justin couldn't surprise me anymore, Marcus found a woman named Elise Warren.
Every Thursday for almost a year, Justin had transferred $2,500 to an account associated with her.
My first thought was affair.
Strangely, infidelity felt almost ordinary compared with everything else.
“Who is she?”
“Insurance broker.”
My stomach tightened.
Elise had arranged my life insurance policy.
She had also arranged policies on Harold.
Bonnie.
Mason.
And Gemma.
“Everyone?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“Some policies are legitimate planning tools.”
“And these?”
“Ownership structures are unusual.”
Several were owned by trusts Bonnie controlled.
My policy was owned by Justin.
Gemma's was owned by Mason.
Harold's was owned by Bonnie.
Bonnie's policy was the only one whose beneficiary was a legitimate family trust.
It was a pattern.
Bonnie encouraged family members to insure one another.
Financially, everyone became more valuable dead than alive.
Detective Bennett interviewed Elise.
Elise immediately requested immunity.
Then she talked.
Bonnie had introduced her to Justin.
They had paid her extra to expedite paperwork.
She admitted knowing my signature might not be genuine.
“Did Justin ever discuss harming Cadence?” Bennett asked.
“No.”
“Did Bonnie?”
Elise hesitated.
“Not directly.”
“What did she say?”
“She joked that some investments mature unexpectedly.”
That sentence chilled me.
Elise also admitted Justin had been seeing someone else.
Not her.
A woman named Rachel Dunn.
Thirty-two.
Real estate agent.
The condo Justin secretly owned downtown?
Rachel lived there.
I laughed when Evelyn told me.
I couldn't help it.
“What?”
“He committed fraud, stole my identity, helped his mother build a criminal enterprise, insured my life, and somehow still found time for a mistress.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
“Some men are efficient.”
Rachel was subpoenaed.
She knew nothing about H&H.
But she knew plenty about Justin.
He had told her we were separated.
He had promised to marry her.
And six months earlier, he had told her something particularly interesting.
“Once Cadence is out of the picture, everything changes.”
Rachel assumed he meant divorce.
Investigators weren't so sure.
Then she produced messages.
Justin: Mom says patience. Timing matters.
Rachel: I'm tired of waiting.
Justin: Trust me. By next year, I won't be married anymore.
Rachel: Divorce?
Justin: One way or another.
One way or another.
It wasn't proof of attempted murder.
But combined with the insurance policy, the loosened steering component, and Harold's notebook, it was enough for investigators to dig deeper.
They searched Justin's laptop.
His browser history contained searches.
Life insurance accidental death exclusions.
Toxicology detection windows.
Spousal inheritance Maryland.
How long after death insurance pays.
My hands shook reading the report.
Evelyn took it away.
“You don't need to see more.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because for five years everyone told me I was overreacting whenever I questioned anything.”
I took the report back.
“I want to see exactly how wrong they were.”
Investigators still couldn't prove Justin had tampered with my car.
But they found a purchase.
Eight months earlier, he had ordered a specialized automotive tool online.
The same type used to access the component that later came loose.
His attorney called it coincidence.
I called it terrifying.
Justin requested a meeting through his lawyer.
Against Evelyn's advice, I agreed under controlled conditions.
We sat across from each other in a courthouse conference room.
He looked thinner.
“Did you try to kill me?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Firm.
“Did you loosen my steering?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the policy?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Mom said you'd object.”
“That's because I would have.”
“I know.”
“Did you marry me for money?”
His eyes dropped.
“Not at first.”
That answer hurt.
“What does that mean?”
“I loved you.”
“That's not what I asked.”
He looked up.
“My mother knew who you were before I met you.”
The room became still.
“She knew about your career. Your father's estate. Everything.”
“And?”
“She encouraged me to introduce myself.”
My throat tightened.
Our first meeting at a Baltimore charity gala had never been accidental.
“How long before you met me did she know?”
“Months.”
“Did you approach me because she told you to?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
The foundation of my marriage collapsing twelve years too late.
“But I fell in love with you,” he said.
I stared at him.
“You fell in love with me and then turned me into a firewall.”
He began crying.
“Cadence—”
“Did you try to kill me?”
“No.”
“Then who loosened my steering?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Bonnie?”
His silence answered.
“You know something.”
He looked toward his attorney.
Then back at me.
“My mother asked Mason to take your car to the shop that weekend.”
My blood went cold.
“Mason?”
Justin nodded.
“I thought she wanted him to install a tracker.”
“A tracker?”
“She wanted to know where you were going.”
“You all tracked me?”
“I didn't know about the steering.”
I stood.
“Tell investigators.”
“If I do, Mason goes away for years.”
I looked at him in disbelief.
Even now.
Even after everything.
He was protecting them.
“Justin, your brother may have tried to kill your wife.”
He whispered:
“He's still my brother.”
May you like
I opened the door.
“And that's why you'll never be my husband again.”
