Chapter 9
Wisconsin police surrounded the lake house before sunset.
Dad and I stayed in Chicago because the detective practically threatened to have Dad detained if he tried driving north.
Vanessa finally gave police her motel location.
They moved her to a safe location.
For the first time in two days, everyone knew where everyone was.
Except Daniel.
His SUV was parked near the cabin.
But when officers entered, the cabin was empty.
No Daniel.
No hostage.
No body.
Only blood.
A small amount on the kitchen floor.
More on Daniel’s shirt, which he had left draped over a chair.
The video had been recorded there.
They also found a laptop.
Daniel had wiped most of it.
But not everything.
There was a scheduled email addressed to me.
Police stopped the automatic delivery while they investigated.
My attorney fought to get access.
Eventually, detectives allowed me to read a copy in their presence.
The subject line was:
IF I DON’T COME BACK.
My hands shook.
The message began:
Emily,
I know you think you married a monster.
Maybe you did.
I stopped reading.
Dad sat beside me.
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do.”
I continued.
Daniel admitted the affair.
The lies.
The loans.
The forged documents.
He claimed everything began because he wanted to prove he could become successful without relying on his salary.
One investment failed.
Then another.
He lied to cover the losses.
Used my credit.
Borrowed more.
Each new loan was supposed to repair the previous mistake.
Instead, the hole deepened.
Then came Ryan.
Ryan discovered altered financial statements in one of Daniel’s loan packages.
He threatened to report it.
Daniel begged him not to.
Ryan refused.
According to the email, Daniel followed Ryan after work one evening.
They argued in a parking lot.
Daniel threatened to destroy Ryan’s career if he reported the fraud.
Ryan laughed at him.
Then drove away.
Daniel wrote:
I followed him because I wanted to scare him. I wanted him to know I could find him.
My stomach turned.
That night, rain hammered the roads.
Daniel followed too closely.
Ryan accelerated.
Daniel accelerated.
Ryan lost control on a curve.
His car hit the barrier and rolled.
Daniel stopped.
He saw the wreck.
He saw Ryan trapped.
And he left.
I put the paper down.
Dad’s face was hard.
“He could have called 911.”
I kept reading.
Daniel claimed he convinced himself Ryan was already dead.
But he never checked.
Later, reports said Ryan died at the scene.
Daniel believed his secret was safe.
Two years passed.
Then he saw Vanessa at a charity event.
He recognized her.
Ryan had kept a photograph of her on his desk.
Daniel knew exactly who she was.
She had no idea who he was.
He approached her anyway.
At first, he claimed it was guilt.
He wanted to know whether she was okay.
Then attraction grew.
Then the affair.
I felt no sympathy.
Only horror.
Daniel had built a relationship with the woman whose fiancé he left dying on a highway.
He lied to her about me.
He lied to me about her.
He put us both inside the aftermath of his crime.
The letter continued.
He admitted using Vanessa’s twenty thousand dollars.
He admitted putting her name on the trust.
Why?
Because if I died, he planned to tell Vanessa the insurance money came from his divorce settlement and business assets.
If anything happened to Daniel later, Vanessa would control the trust.
He had built a future using my death as a financial plan.
I stopped again.
Dad put his hand over mine.
I whispered, “He really planned it.”
Dad said nothing.
The next paragraph was worse.
Daniel claimed he never intended to murder me.
At first.
The policies were “protection.”
His word.
If my heart problem became real, the insurance would solve everything.
Except I didn’t have a heart problem.
So he created one on paper.
Then he started experimenting with medication.
My stomach turned.
He crushed small amounts of his father’s old prescription medication and added it to vitamin capsules.
Not enough to kill me.
He wanted symptoms.
Dizziness.
Rapid heartbeat.
Fainting.
He wanted medical events that matched the false records.
I covered my mouth.
Dad stood abruptly and walked across the room.
He couldn’t sit anymore.
Neither could I.
Daniel wrote that he planned to take me to the lake house Saturday.
He intended to increase the dosage.
Then wait.
He believed if I collapsed and died, my fake medical history would support a natural cardiac event.
The room disappeared.
I heard my own voice.
“He was going to kill me.”
Dad turned.
His eyes were wet.
“Yes.”
The detective sat silently.
There was no softer word.
No complicated explanation.
My husband planned to kill me.
Then I reached the final section.
It concerned Vanessa.
Daniel wrote:
Vanessa took the folder. Once she saw the insurance documents, I knew everything was over. I followed her because I needed the papers back. I did not hurt her.
He claimed the strange texts from Vanessa’s phone were sent by him.
He had access to her cloud account.
He wanted me to believe she had changed her mind.
Then:
I went to the lake house because it was the only place I could think. I planned to disappear. But someone followed me.
I looked at the detective.
“Who?”
He shook his head.
“Keep reading.”
Daniel wrote:
I know who it was.
I was wrong about one person.
I thought she was protecting me.
She was protecting herself.
My heartbeat slowed.
She.
Then came the final sentence.
If anything happens to me, look at my mother.
Dad whispered, “Susan.”
The detective immediately left the room.
Police had already interviewed Susan.
But after reading the letter, everything changed.
They searched her house.
They found blood in the trunk of her car.
Daniel’s blood.
Susan was gone.
Michael had no idea where she went.
At nine that night, police issued an alert for both Daniel and Susan.
I sat in Dad’s living room because police no longer wanted me alone at my house.
Vanessa called.
“Did you read the email?”
“Yes.”
She was quiet.
“Did he really say it?”
“About Ryan?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Yes.”
Vanessa began sobbing.
For a long time, I listened.
There was nothing to say.
Finally she whispered, “I loved him.”
“I know.”
“He watched Ryan die.”
“I know.”
“And then he came into my life.”
“I know.”
“I feel disgusting.”
“So do I.”
We sat in silence through the phone.
Then Vanessa said, “Why Susan?”
“I don’t know.”
“I met her.”
My eyes opened.
“What?”
“Daniel’s mother.”
“When?”
“Once.”
“You told me you met his brother.”
“I forgot about this until now. It was brief.”
“Where?”
“A restaurant.”
“When?”
“About two months ago.”
“What happened?”
“She looked terrified.”
“Of you?”
“No.”
“Of Daniel?”
Vanessa paused.
“I thought so at the time.”
“What did she say?”
“Not much. Daniel introduced me. Susan just stared at me.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Daniel had told her.”
I thought about Susan keeping his mail.
Cosigning his loans.
Lying for him.
Maybe fear explained some of it.
But not all.
“What else?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“She asked me a strange question when Daniel went to the restroom.”
“What?”
“She asked whether I had family nearby.”
My skin prickled.
“What did you say?”
“I told her my sister lived in Chicago.”
“Then?”
“She said, ‘Good. Women should have somewhere to go.’”
A chill ran down my spine.
Maybe Susan knew Daniel was dangerous.
Maybe she had been trying to warn Vanessa.
Or maybe something darker.
The detective called before midnight.
Susan’s car had been found.
Near the Wisconsin border.
Abandoned.
Blood in the trunk matched Daniel.
A gas station camera showed Susan driving.
Daniel was in the passenger seat.
Alive.
So she hadn’t attacked him and hidden the body.
They had left together.
Then why did Daniel accuse her?
At one in the morning, Michael called me.
“I know where they might be.”
Dad sat upright.
“Where?”
Michael sounded terrified.
“My mother has another property.”
“What property?”
“She inherited land from her sister years ago. Nobody uses it.”
“Where?”
“About thirty miles from the lake house.”
Police moved immediately.
They found the property before sunrise.
A farmhouse.
One light on.
Susan inside.
Daniel inside.
Both alive.
But there was a third person.
An older man.
When police announced themselves, Daniel tried to escape through a back door.
He was arrested.
Susan surrendered.
The older man did too.
At seven that morning, the detective called.
“We have Daniel.”
I closed my eyes.
Dad hugged me.
It should have felt finished.
It didn’t.
“Who was the third man?”
The detective paused.
“His name is Thomas Reed.”
“Who is that?”
“He worked with Daniel on several property transactions.”
“What was he doing there?”
“We’re still determining that.”
“Why did Daniel blame Susan?”
Another pause.
“Because the financial fraud did not start with Daniel.”
I felt the room tighten around me.
“What does that mean?”
The detective continued.
“Your mother-in-law appears to have been involved before Daniel ever met you.”
Dad stared at the phone.
I whispered, “Involved in what?”
May you like
The detective answered.
“Using other people’s identities to obtain loans.”
