Chapter 6 - The Bride in the Trap
For several seconds, only the wind moved through the cemetery.
Elena tightened both hands around her crutches. "Explain."
Rebecca glanced at Brooks's weapon and then at the road. "Not here. Andrew tracks the detective's car."
As if summoned by his name, an engine growled beyond the cemetery wall. A black SUV turned through the gates.
Brooks ordered them behind the maintenance building. The SUV moved slowly between the headstones, its tinted windows reflecting rows of gray monuments. It passed Amelia's grave, paused, then continued toward the far exit.
No one spoke until its sound faded.
They abandoned Brooks's car and returned to the veterinary clinic in Rebecca's sedan. There, Rebecca finally opened a steel case hidden beneath the floorboards. Inside were financial records, copies of marriage certificates, medical forms bearing Elena's signature, and a sealed envelope from Moore Family Trust.
Elena tore it open. The document named her as contingent trustee.
"I've never seen this."
"Your grandmother's name was Helen Moore," Rebecca said. "She was our grandfather's sister. You are the last independent descendant named in the original trust. Andrew could forge my signature, but a transfer of the Ward estate remained vulnerable to challenge unless another Moore heir confirmed it. Marriage gave him access to your identity, your medical history, and your legal signature."
Elena remembered the papers Andrew brought to breakfast two days after their honeymoon. Insurance updates, he had said. She signed where yellow tabs indicated.
"You knew who I was before he did?"
"I found you while tracing the trust. I leaked your name to Andrew's attorney."
Brooks swore under her breath.
Elena felt the room tilt. "You offered me to him."
"I placed a name where he would see it. I believed he would court you. I believed I could collect evidence while he prepared the fraud."
"You believed he might hurt me."
Rebecca's silence answered.
Elena crossed the room before either woman could stop her and struck Rebecca across the face. The force jarred her injured leg. She nearly fell, but Brooks caught her elbow.
"You don't get to turn me into bait," Elena said.
Rebecca touched her reddened cheek. "You're right."
No defense. No apology. Somehow that made Elena angrier.
Brooks examined the documents. Several medical releases gave Andrew authority to make decisions if Elena became mentally incapacitated. A psychiatrist she had never met had diagnosed her with delusional disorder. A private facility in Vermont had already approved her admission.
The plan became clear. Andrew would obtain Elena's signature, discredit her, and place her somewhere no one would believe her accusations. The assault was not supposed to free her. It was supposed to produce the final public breakdown.
"Margaret hit my leg on purpose," Elena said. "But why leave me overnight?"
"So you would attempt an escape," Rebecca replied. "The cameras would show you damaging the door and attacking Andrew. His lawyer would present the footage beside the diagnosis."
"Then you ruined the recording by calling Brooks."
"I tried."
The clinic telephone rang.
All three women stared at it. The line had been disconnected for years.
It rang again.
Brooks lifted the receiver without speaking.
Andrew's voice filled the room through the speaker. "My wife is injured, Detective. Bring her home."
Brooks signaled Rebecca to check the windows.
Elena leaned toward the phone. "I'm not coming back."
"You already did what I needed."
"What was that?"
"You brought Rebecca and Detective Brooks together. Two fugitives and a compromised officer, all in one room."
Outside, red light washed across the dusty blinds.
Police vehicles surrounded the clinic.
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"One more thing," Andrew said. "Ask Rebecca why your name appears on Rachel's death certificate."
The line went dead.
