Chapter 13 - The Empty Car.
Rebecca nearly collapsed.
We drove to Canandaigua with Daniel while Megan remained behind coordinating with police and my attorney.
I spent the entire trip staring at my phone.
Natalie did not answer.
Neither did Andrew.
Her car had been discovered near a public boat launch less than two miles from my cottage.
There was no blood.
No broken glass.
No obvious evidence of violence.
But her purse remained inside.
Her phone was missing.
Rebecca kept whispering the same sentence.
“He wouldn’t hurt her.”
I did not know whether she was asking me or herself.
Police questioned Andrew almost immediately.
He admitted seeing Natalie.
He claimed she had called him late the previous night.
She was angry.
She demanded answers.
They met near the lake.
According to Andrew, Natalie got into his car because she did not want to speak outside in the cold.
They argued.
Then she walked away.
“Why are your fingerprints on her steering wheel?”
An investigator asked.
Andrew claimed he moved the car after she left.
“Why?”
“To get it away from the road.”
No one believed him.
I stood outside the cottage with Rebecca.
The lake looked painfully beautiful.
Sunlight moved across the water.
Birds called from the trees.
I remembered summers with my grandmother.
I remembered teaching Andrew to kayak.
Now police tape stretched across the driveway.
Daniel approached.
“There’s security footage from a marina.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does it show?”
“Natalie walking north.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Relief flickered across her face.
Then Daniel continued.
“But someone followed her about four minutes later.”
“Andrew?”
“No.”
“Lorraine.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
A camera had captured Lorraine’s vehicle passing the marina at 11:43 p.m.
Natalie appeared at 11:40.
Lorraine had told police she spent the entire night at Andrew’s downtown apartment.
She had lied.
We called Megan.
Within minutes, she notified investigators.
Lorraine was brought in for questioning.
At first, she denied being near the lake.
Then officers showed her the footage.
Her story changed.
She claimed Andrew called her after Natalie confronted him.
She drove to help calm everyone down.
“Did you speak with Natalie?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
According to Lorraine, Natalie threatened to expose everything publicly.
She said she would contact Andrew’s employer.
She would post the affair online.
She would tell every lender about the forged documents.
Lorraine followed her because she wanted to reason with her.
“What happened after that?”
Lorraine said Natalie eventually called a friend and left.
“Which friend?”
“I don’t know.”
There was one problem.
No taxi.
No rideshare.
No second vehicle had been captured leaving the road.
By afternoon, search teams were checking the shoreline.
Rebecca sat beside me shaking.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
“Claire?”
Natalie.
I stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
“Natalie?”
Rebecca grabbed my arm.
Natalie was crying.
“I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at a motel outside Geneva.”
Rebecca took the phone.
“Natalie, why didn’t you call?”
“I was scared.”
“Of Andrew?”
There was a pause.
“No.”
“Of Lorraine.”
My blood went cold.
Natalie said Lorraine had caught up with her near the water.
They argued.
Then Lorraine grabbed her arm and tried to take her phone.
Natalie ran.
A truck driver eventually found her walking beside the highway and gave her a ride.
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I didn’t know who to trust.”
Then Natalie said something even more alarming.
“Lorraine told me Claire would be gone soon anyway.”
I swallowed.
“What exactly did she say?”
Natalie’s voice shook.
May you like
“She said Andrew had already solved the Claire problem.”
The million-dollar life insurance policy suddenly felt much heavier.
