Chapter 8 - The Woman Corinne Needed Gone
Ethan finally asked the question he had been avoiding.
“Did Corinne benefit from Natalie dying?”
Rebecca answered carefully.
“Emotionally? Financially? Legally? We separate those.”
Legally, Corinne received nothing directly.
Not then.
Financially, nothing immediate.
But Natalie had been blocking fraudulent changes.
After Natalie died, the resistance disappeared.
Corinne became indispensable to a grieving widower.
Seven months later, she became Ethan’s wife.
And after marriage, she gained access.
Passwords.
Devices.
Financial discussions.
Maisie.
Rebecca found one particularly disturbing email.
From Corinne to Natalie.
Nine days before Natalie died.
You’re making Ethan miserable. Maybe Maisie would be better off without all this instability around her.
Natalie replied:
Do not talk about my daughter again.
Corinne:
She’s Ethan’s daughter too.
Natalie:
And you are not her mother.
No reply.
Ethan read the exchange three times.
Corinne had always said Natalie considered her “family.”
Clearly that relationship had collapsed.
Then the hospital records arrived.
Natalie had died after a single-car crash.
Ethan remembered every detail.
Wet road.
Sharp curve.
Guardrail.
The police report concluded she likely lost control.
No alcohol.
No mechanical defect documented.
But something in the records stood out.
Natalie had called roadside assistance two days earlier.
Complaint:
Brake pedal felt unusually soft.
Ethan’s skin went cold.
“Was the car inspected after the crash?”
Rebecca checked.
A standard post-collision report noted extensive front-end damage.
No detailed brake-system forensic examination.
The vehicle had been totaled.
Then sold for salvage.
Ethan’s heart sank.
“Can we find it?”
“Maybe.”
The VIN still existed.
Rebecca’s investigator traced it.
The wreck had been purchased by an auto recycler in another state.
Parts had been removed.
But the chassis remained.
Ethan felt hope and dread at the same time.
Days later, an independent automotive engineer inspected what remained.
The result was not definitive.
Crash damage complicated everything.
But one brake line showed a clean-edged section inconsistent with normal rupture.
Possible deliberate damage.
Possible post-crash salvage damage.
Not proof.
Then the investigator found the salvage yard’s intake photographs.
Taken before dismantling.
The damaged line was visible.
Clean-edged already.
Ethan sat perfectly still.
Rebecca warned him.
“This still requires expert analysis.”
“I know.”
Then another record arrived.
Security footage from Ethan’s driveway the night before Natalie’s crash.
At 11:48 p.m., someone approached her car.
The figure wore a hood.
Face unclear.
But the person used the house side gate code.
Only four people had that code.
Ethan.
Natalie.
May you like
Lauren.
And Corinne.
