Chapter 2 - The Wife He Never Mentioned)
Margaret drove home with Laura's voice playing in her mind.
I was married to him first.
Eric had told Sophie he had never been married.
Margaret remembered the conversation clearly.
It had happened fourteen months earlier at Christmas dinner.
Sophie had teased Eric about never having worn a wedding ring.
Eric laughed.
"Never found anyone worth marrying."
Thomas had still been alive.
He had looked across the table and asked, "Not even close?"
Eric had shaken his head.
"Not once."
Now Margaret sat at her dining room table at nearly midnight listening to a stranger tell her that Eric had lied.
Laura Vale had married Eric when she was twenty-seven.
The marriage lasted three years.
She lived in Pennsylvania now.
Her voice remained quiet through the call, as if she expected someone to overhear even though hundreds of miles separated her from Eric.
"Why are you calling me?"
Laura hesitated.
"Because I saw the birth announcement."
Margaret frowned.
"What birth announcement?"
"Sophie's."
"Where?"
"Eric's sister posted it."
Vanessa.
Margaret gripped the phone harder.
Laura continued.
"Emma Cole. Three weeks old. I saw Eric in the picture."
Margaret waited.
"I nearly threw up."
"What happened between you and Eric?"
Laura did not answer directly.
Instead she asked, "Does Sophie have money?"
Margaret's stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"Does she?"
"She has family assets."
Laura exhaled.
"Then you need to listen to me."
For the next forty minutes, Margaret barely moved.
Laura described a relationship that sounded frighteningly familiar.
Eric had been charming at first.
Patient.
Protective.
He called often.
Remembered details.
Helped with repairs.
Made friends with Laura's parents.
Then the isolation began.
It started small.
A forgotten dinner.
A complaint about a friend.
A suggestion that Laura's mother was controlling.
Then passwords changed.
Mail disappeared.
Calls were returned from Laura's phone by Eric.
Laura's sister was told not to visit without permission.
When Laura objected, Eric began describing her as unstable.
Emotional.
Paranoid.
Overwhelmed.
Vanessa moved in "temporarily."
That was when things accelerated.
Laura had inherited money from her grandfather.
Eric convinced her to sign financial forms.
She later learned that one document gave him temporary control over several accounts.
Another authorized medical decisions if she became incapacitated.
"I signed things I didn't understand," Laura said.
"Why?"
"Because he gave them to me after I had taken sleeping medication."
Margaret felt cold.
"What medication?"
"I don't know anymore. He said it was prescribed for anxiety."
"Was it?"
"No."
Margaret stood slowly.
"Laura, did you go to the police?"
"Eventually."
"What happened?"
"I had no proof."
"What about the documents?"
"My signature was on them."
"But you were drugged."
"I couldn't prove that."
Margaret walked to the window.
Outside, her street was empty.
"What finally happened?"
Laura's voice changed.
"I got pregnant."
Margaret closed her eyes.
There it was.
"Eric became obsessed with having control over everything. Where I went. What I ate. Who came into the house."
"What happened to the baby?"
Silence.
Margaret's throat tightened.
"Laura?"
"I miscarried."
"I'm sorry."
"After that, he said I was unstable."
Laura's breathing grew uneven.
"He started documenting everything. If I cried, he recorded me. If I got angry, he recorded me. If I tried to leave, Vanessa filmed it."
Margaret thought of Sophie's exhausted face.
"How did you get away?"
"My neighbor."
Margaret waited.
"She had a camera facing the driveway. Eric didn't know. One night he dragged me back inside after I tried to leave. The camera recorded it."
Laura's voice became steadier.
"That footage saved me."
"And Eric?"
"He agreed to a quiet divorce because he didn't want the video used in court."
"Why wasn't he charged?"
"I was terrified. I took the divorce and left."
Margaret sat down again.
"Why didn't Sophie find a record of the marriage?"
"My maiden name isn't Vale."
Margaret frowned.
"What is it?"
"Laura Stanton."
Margaret recognized the surname.
Three weeks before Sophie's wedding, Eric had told the family his college roommate was named Daniel Stanton.
He said he had once lived with the Stanton family.
Margaret now understood.
He had used his ex-wife's family stories as his own.
"Why contact me now?"
"Because Vanessa posted something else."
"What?"
"A picture of a document."
Margaret's pulse jumped.
"What document?"
"A trust distribution form."
The room seemed to tilt.
"How would she have that?"
"She posted it accidentally in the background of a photo. It was on the kitchen island."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Laura continued.
"The form had Sophie's name."
Margaret whispered.
"Two million four hundred thousand dollars."
Laura went silent.
Then she said, "You need to get your daughter out."
Margaret stood.
"I will."
"Be careful."
Margaret almost ended the call.
Then Laura added one final thing.
"Margaret."
"Yes?"
"Eric always keeps evidence."
"What kind?"
"Documents. Recordings. Copies. He doesn't trust anyone, including Vanessa."
"Where?"
"I don't know where he keeps them now."
Laura paused.
"But when we were married, he hid everything behind a locked door."
Margaret looked toward the darkness outside.
"What opened it?"
May you like
Laura answered.
"A small silver key."
