Chương 13 - The Night Julian Realized I Knew
I returned to the house under police supervision.
Cameras covered every entrance.
Officers occupied neighboring properties.
The hidden room had microphones.
For the first time since this began, the house wasn't Julian's trap.
It was ours.
But plans look cleaner on paper than they feel at midnight.
At 1:48 a.m., I sat on the edge of my bed.
The same bed Julian had approached with the syringe.
I wore a tracking device.
A microphone.
A panic transmitter.
My hands still trembled.
Ruiz's voice came quietly through the earpiece.
“Remember, you don't have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
At 2:06, movement appeared near the rear fence.
At 2:09, a basement sensor triggered.
At 2:11, footsteps entered the hallway.
At 2:13, my bedroom door opened.
Julian stood there.
No disguise.
No beanie.
No gloves.
Just my husband.
He looked exhausted.
Older.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he smiled.
“You came home.”
“So did you.”
He closed the door.
Police waited.
We needed him talking.
“You look different,” he said.
“So do you.”
“Fear changes people.”
“So does discovering your husband is a murderer.”
His jaw tightened.
“Still using that word.”
“What word would you prefer?”
“Survivor.”
I stared at him.
“Is that what you call yourself?”
“You think any of this began with me?”
“Rebecca.”
His expression changed.
“Michelle.”
Another change.
“My father.”
He looked toward the window.
“You've been busy.”
“Caleb has.”
His eyes hardened.
“Leave him out of this.”
“You photographed him.”
“For protection.”
“Whose?”
Julian laughed.
“You always did ask too many questions.”
“That's what my father did.”
Silence.
“What happened to him?”
Julian looked at me.
Then, perhaps because he believed he had already lost everything, he stopped pretending.
“Thomas threatened to destroy my life.”
“So you destroyed his?”
“He had a weak heart.”
“You poisoned him.”
“I accelerated something inevitable.”
My stomach turned.
In my earpiece, Ruiz remained silent.
They had heard it.
“Rebecca?”
Julian looked almost sad.
“She was going to leave.”
“So you killed her.”
“She was going to ruin everything.”
“Michelle?”
“She made mistakes.”
“You mean trusting you?”
His face hardened.
Then he stepped closer.
“Do you know what your problem is, Clara?”
“I married you?”
“You believe morality makes people safe.”
He reached into his coat.
My body tensed.
But he removed a folded paper.
An insurance document.
Twenty-four million dollars.
He placed it on the bed.
“This was supposed to solve everything.”
“For whom?”
“For us.”
“There is no us.”
Something inside him broke.
Not loudly.
His expression simply emptied.
“You shouldn't have listened to Caleb.”
There it was.
The sentence that frightened me most.
“What were you going to do to him?”
“Nothing.”
“You're lying.”
“He interfered.”
“He saved me.”
“He turned you against me.”
“You came into my bedroom with a syringe.”
Julian stepped forward.
Police prepared to enter.
I raised one hand subtly.
Not yet.
“What was in it?”
He stared at me.
“You already know.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Why?”
“Because after fourteen years, you owe me one truth.”
For a moment, Julian almost looked like the man I married.
Then he whispered:
“You wouldn't have felt anything.”
My eyes burned.
That was enough.
Ruiz's voice came through my earpiece.
“We have it.”
But before officers moved, Julian looked directly at the tiny camera hidden near the dresser.
He smiled.
He knew.
“Clara.”
My blood froze.
“You've always been terrible at hiding wires.”
Then every light in the house went out.
Julian had cut the power.
May you like
Again.
And this time, he knew exactly where the hidden room was.
