Chapter 12 - THE HOUSE SEARCH
Police returned to the Bennett house with expanded warrants.
This time they opened walls.
They removed computers.
They seized hard drives.
Behind a false panel in Victoria’s dressing room, investigators found binders containing financial profiles.
Mine.
Rachel’s.
Melissa’s.
Lauren’s.
And six others.
Some women had never dated Dominic.
They were candidates.
People evaluated by wealth.
Family support.
Emotional vulnerability.
Employment.
Health history.
Even fertility.
I stood outside while investigators carried box after box into evidence vans.
The house no longer looked powerful.
It looked hollow.
Chloe found me near the gate.
“We identified M.”
My stomach tightened.
“The person messaging Dominic?”
She nodded.
“Dr. Ames.”
The counselor.
The man who had spent months telling me I needed to stop seeing everything as a threat.
The man who encouraged me to hand financial responsibility to Dominic because “reducing stress” might improve our marriage.
He was arrested that afternoon on allegations connected to fraud and falsified records.
Madison agreed to cooperate.
Lauren gave police everything.
Melissa Grant contacted Chloe after seeing Dominic’s arrest on local news.
Then, finally, Rachel called.
She had been living in Oregon.
Different last name.
Different life.
She had spent nine years believing the Bennetts still knew where she was.
When Chloe told her Victoria might be charged, Rachel cried.
Then she asked one question.
“Is Claire alive?”
Chloe handed me the phone.
“Yes.”
Rachel was silent.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I tried to warn the next woman.”
“The photograph?”
“Yes.”
Arthur promised he would put it somewhere Dominic couldn’t ignore.”
I thought of the drawer.
“He kept it.”
Rachel exhaled.
“Then maybe he wasn’t completely lost.”
She agreed to return to Connecticut.
Her testimony could connect Victoria to everything.
The cover-up.
The payment.
The threats.
The pattern.
For the first time, I felt something close to hope.
Then Chloe received an alert.
Victoria Bennett’s passport had been scanned.
JFK Airport.
She was booked on a private flight leaving for Lisbon.
Departure was in ninety minutes.
Police raced toward New York.
I thought it was over.
I thought she had run.
I was wrong.
Victoria never boarded the plane.
May you like
Her luggage did.
And hidden inside one suitcase was Arthur’s bloodstained watch.
