Chapter 9 - My Mother-in-Law Attended My Memorial
Three days later, I was declared dead.
Not legally.
Not medically.
But according to an anonymous announcement distributed through several online accounts, Mara Whitmore had supposedly died following complications from injuries sustained during a tragic accident.
The post included an edited photograph from my wedding.
Someone had added a black ribbon to the corner.
Within an hour, hundreds of condolences appeared beneath it.
People who barely knew me wrote about my kindness.
Former restaurant customers shared memories.
Strangers asked why a woman who had recently lost her husband had suffered such a terrible fate.
Then Evelyn Whitmore issued a statement.
She described my supposed death as an unimaginable loss.
She said that despite our differences, she had always considered me family.
I read those words while sitting in Detective Bennett's office.
For a moment, I couldn't speak.
Then I began laughing.
Bennett looked concerned.
“Are you all right?”
“My mother-in-law is mourning me,” I said. “Again.”
Thomas had already contacted the relevant platforms and requested corrections.
But the false announcement had spread quickly.
More disturbing was the fact that Evelyn appeared to be using it.
That afternoon, she attended a small gathering at a private chapel.
According to photographs obtained by investigators, she arrived wearing black, accompanied by several company associates.
Grant was nowhere to be seen.
Margaret remained missing.
A framed photograph of me stood near the altar.
There were flowers.
Candles.
And a white card bearing the message:
May Mara and Daniel finally find peace together.
I stared at the photograph for a long time.
Evelyn had stood over an abandoned well and watched me fall.
Now she was publicly grieving the death she'd attempted to cause.
Bennett suspected the false memorial was intended to influence public perception and possibly disrupt the ongoing corporate dispute.
But there was another possibility.
Someone wanted to know whether I would react.
And if I did, they might discover where I was staying.
Thomas advised silence.
For once, I agreed.
Instead of making a public appearance, I authorized my attorney to issue a factual correction confirming that I was alive and recovering.
Meanwhile, Bennett's team continued tracing the source of the false announcement.
The investigation led to a private communications contractor.
Its principal client was a holding company connected to Victor Hale.
But the invoices had been approved by someone unexpected.
Grant Whitmore.
He wasn't simply hiding.
He was still coordinating parts of the operation.
And Evelyn was allowing the world to believe she had lost another family member.
That evening, Thomas visited my apartment.
He brought dinner from a small Italian restaurant Daniel used to love.
For a while, we ate quietly.
Then Thomas said:
“Daniel told me something about his mother shortly before he died.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“He said Evelyn was terrified of losing the company because she believed it was the only thing that made her important.”
“That doesn't excuse anything.”
“No. It doesn't.”
Thomas set down his fork.
“He also said Grant had become dependent on her approval. Every business decision, every personal relationship, every mistake—he looked to her.”
I thought about Grant dragging me toward the well.
About his brief hesitation before Evelyn ordered him to push.
He had chosen to obey.
Whatever influence his mother held over him, it didn't erase his responsibility.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don't want you to underestimate how desperate they may become.”
I understood.
Evelyn was losing control of the company.
Her sister had vanished.
Her financial dealings were under investigation.
And the woman she had attempted to murder was still alive.
The following morning, police located Grant.
He had been staying at a remote vacation property owned by one of Hale's subsidiaries.
He attempted to flee when officers arrived.
They arrested him.
The news should have made me feel relieved.
Instead, I felt strangely empty.
Grant had been Daniel's little brother.
When Daniel and I first married, he sometimes visited our apartment on Sundays.
He would eat half our groceries, complain about work, and tease Daniel about becoming domesticated.
I wondered when that young man had become someone capable of leaving his brother's wife to die.
Two hours after Grant's arrest, Bennett received an urgent telephone call.
A woman had walked into a police station in another county.
She identified herself as Margaret Collins.
She wanted immunity.
And she claimed she could prove that Evelyn had known Daniel would die before his accident happened.
May you like
There was only one condition.
Margaret refused to speak unless Mara Whitmore was present.
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