Chapter 4 - The Watch
Edward’s gym still had archived security footage.
My goal was to prove he did not lose the watch by accident.
The footage showed Linda entering the gym lobby with Edward two months earlier.
While he changed, she opened his locker using his code.
She took the watch.
Then she placed it inside her purse.
No ambiguity.
No misunderstanding.
Edward watched the clip without speaking.
Linda had spent years controlling him with embarrassment, guilt, and quiet criticism.
Now he finally saw planning.
But the footage had another detail.
Mark Duvall stood outside the gym fifteen minutes later.
Linda handed him a small black pouch.
The same size as the watch box.
That connected Mark to the impersonation.
Police were finally brought in.
Gabriella had waited until we had documentary evidence strong enough to survive Linda’s claims that this was “just a family disagreement.”
Detective Alicia Grant took the case.
She interviewed Linda separately.
Linda remained composed.
She admitted borrowing Edward’s watch.
She claimed Mark needed it to have the clasp repaired.
Then Alicia showed her the timeline.
Mark wore it in Helen’s kitchen.
Linda changed strategy.
“Maybe Helen asked him to come.”
Again, no panic.
Just adjustment.
That was what made Linda dangerous.
She did not collapse when caught.
She revised.
Detective Grant searched Mark’s apartment.
He was gone.
But police found a storage unit key taped beneath his desk.
Inside the storage unit were wigs, clothing, duplicate house keys, forged IDs, and folders for six elderly homeowners.
Helen.
Beatrice.
Me.
Three others.
The scheme was larger than our family.
Then police found a padded envelope labeled E.B.
Inside was Edward’s watch.
A gray-blue plaid shirt.
And a latex facial appliance designed to change the shape of Mark’s jaw.
Linda and Mark had been creating a passable imitation of Edward.
Why?
Not merely to steal houses.
To make Edward the visible criminal if everything collapsed.
Then investigators found a burner phone.
One message from Linda to Mark read:
After Margaret, we stop. Edward carries the exposure.
I read it twice.
After Margaret.
I had been next.
Linda planned to take my house, then leave Edward holding the evidence.
But one earlier message was worse.
MARK:
Helen is threatening to call Margaret.
LINDA:
Then do it before she does.
The next message came forty-seven minutes later.
MARK:
Done.
No description.
No explanation.
But the timestamp was the evening before Helen died.
I thought Linda might have merely profited from Helen’s death—but the burner messages suggested she had ordered something to happen before my sister could warn me.
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**The word “Done” was sent before Helen’s fatal fall, and Linda’s next message asked whether the kitchen had been “cleaned.”**
*What the medical examiner found in Helen’s preserved blood finally told us whether her fall had been an accident at all.*
