Chapter 3 - JULIAN’S FIRST WIFE
Her name had been Rebecca Hale.
Victoria’s attorney, Mara Stanton, found the marriage certificate before sunrise.
Julian Vance married Rebecca twelve years earlier in Travis County.
Three years later:
Rebecca died.
Cause listed:
Accidental fall at primary residence.
Victoria stared at the screen until the letters blurred.
“No.”
Mara said nothing.
Victoria whispered:
“No.”
Same city.
Same kind of accident.
Same family.
Mara continued.
“Rebecca carried a life-insurance policy too.”
“How much?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
“Beneficiary?”
“Julian.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
“And Eleanor?”
“Secondary beneficiary through a family trust.”
Victoria sat down.
Her unborn daughter kicked hard beneath her ribs.
For the first time, she understood why Chloe said:
The baby isn’t the first one.
Rebecca had been pregnant when she died.
Seventeen weeks.
Julian had never told Victoria that either.
“What happened to the insurance money?”
“Part went toward Julian’s first real-estate acquisition.”
The company.
Victoria’s company now.
The company Julian bragged he had helped “build from nothing” after marrying Victoria.
His first capital had come from another dead wife.
---
Detective Amelia Cross reopened Rebecca’s death file after receiving Victoria’s recording and Chloe’s statement.
The original investigation had been thin.
No security cameras.
No witnesses except Eleanor.
According to Eleanor, Rebecca slipped while carrying laundry.
Julian had been “at the office.”
But old cell-location records showed his phone near the residence.
Not conclusive.
Interesting.
Then came something stronger.
Rebecca’s younger sister still had emails.
One sent three days before Rebecca died:
Julian keeps asking me to sign insurance documents. His mother says I’m selfish because the baby will need financial security. Something about this feels wrong.
Another:
Eleanor hates that the house is mine. She says Julian deserves a wife who understands family assets belong to the family.
Victoria’s blood ran cold.
Different woman.
Same language.
---
At the hospital, Chloe finally talked.
Not to Victoria.
To Detective Cross.
A formal recorded statement.
Chloe was sixteen when Rebecca died.
She had seen Eleanor mopping the stairs that morning.
At the time, she thought nothing of it.
Hours later, Rebecca fell.
Years passed.
Then, while drunk at a family Christmas, Eleanor told Chloe:
Sometimes a difficult woman needs one accident to solve a family problem.
Chloe never reported it.
Why?
Fear.
And money.
Eleanor paid her rent.
Bought her first car.
Covered debts.
Later, Julian continued.
Silence became expensive.
Then comfortable.
Then normal.
Victoria asked to read the transcript.
Mara said:
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
Then:
“Yes.”
One line destroyed whatever sympathy she still had for Chloe.
I knew something was wrong with Victoria’s insurance too. I just didn’t think Mom would really do it again.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Chloe knew.
Not everything.
Enough.
May you like
And still came upstairs for a handbag.
---
