Chapter 8 - The First Marriage
Diane denied it immediately.
Police records did not.
Twenty years earlier, Diane Mercer married William Collins in Nevada.
William was Wade’s original name.
The marriage was sealed after both entered a federal witness program.
They never legally divorced.
Her wedding to Dad thirteen years ago had been invalid.
Her ceremony with Wade that evening was not a new marriage.
It was a public return to her first husband.
Dad looked as if someone had struck him.
“Was Ava part of the plan?”
“No.”
“Was our entire family?”
“I left Wade before I met you.”
“But you stayed in contact.”
“He threatened me.”
“You sent him money.”
Her bank records showed regular payments.
Diane claimed they were blackmail.
Rachel said some were investments.
My mother had helped fund Wade’s construction company.
The luxury wedding house was purchased with money diverted from a military recovery account.
Thomas had discovered the theft.
Wade staged the helicopter crash to erase him.
Colonel Reed approved the false death certificate.
Nolan created the images.
Diane moved the stolen money through property accounts.
Dad asked whether she knew soldiers died because equipment was missing.
She looked down.
That was enough.
I stepped away from her.
She reached for me.
“Ava, please.”
“You called me trash to protect him.”
“To protect you.”
“You always say that after you hurt someone.”
Dad closed his eyes.
He looked tired in a way I had never seen.
Then Thomas’s voice returned through the speaker.
“The warehouse is a trap, but the ledger is real.”
“Tell me where you are,” Dad said.
“No.”
“Why contact us?”
“Because Wade buried someone else beneath the wedding house.”
Police searched the basement again.
Behind the mannequin pit was a second layer of concrete.
May you like
Ground-penetrating radar showed a human-sized shape below it.
The wedding guests had been standing above a grave all evening.
