Chapter 8 - The First Victim
The documents in the manila folder were brittle and yellowed with age, bearing the letterhead of a law firm in a neighboring county. I spread them out across the kitchen island, adjusting the overhead light to read the faded ink.
"Mark," I whispered, my eyes scanning the first legal brief. "Have you ever heard of a woman named Clara Vance?"
Mark frowned, stepping closer to read over my shoulder. "Clara? No. Wait... my dad’s mother died when he was a teenager, didn't she? That’s what he always told us."
"That’s not what these letters say," I replied, pointing to a certified death certificate from 1974. "Clara wasn't his mother. She was his first wife."
Mark went completely still. "His first wife? Dad was married before Mom?"
"According to this separation agreement and medical annex, yes," I said, turning the page. "Listen to this: *'The petitioner, Clara Vance, cites extreme psychological distress, systematic isolation, and severe somatic symptoms resulting from ingestion of unverified dietary supplements provided exclusively by her spouse.'*"
The kitchen seemed to drop ten degrees. Mark stared at the paper, his face draining of all color. "Are you telling me... he did this before?"
"It looks like he tried to poison his first wife decades ago," I said, horror washing over me. "She figured it out, filed for emergency separation, and demanded full custody of their young daughter before disappearing from public records entirely."
"Daughter?" Mark’s voice was barely a breath. "I have a sister? An older sister?"
Before I could answer, my phone on the counter buzzed violently. It was an incoming call from Detective Vance.
"Elena," the detective’s voice came through the speaker, crisp and urgent. "We need you and Mark down at the station as soon as possible. We’re executing a search of Arthur’s safety deposit box at the local bank, and we found something that connects him to a cold case from the 1970s."
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"We found the same thing thirty minutes ago," I said, my hand trembling as I held the phone. "A file on Clara Vance."
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. "Clara wasn't just a separation case, Mrs. Vance. Clara disappeared permanently three months after those papers were filed. And we believe your father-in-law knows exactly where she is."
