And the temporary administrator I had personally authorized.
Serena.
I lowered my head.
For almost a year, I had believed Laura because I wanted to believe her guilty.
Now every piece of evidence was turning in my hands.
And every road led back to the woman wearing my engagement ring.
My phone lit up.
Serena.
Miss you. Come home soon ❤️
I stared at the message.
Then typed:
Busy night. Love you.
The words made me nauseous.
But Marcus had warned me.
“If she did this, don’t scare her yet. People destroy evidence when they know you’re looking.”
For once in my life, I listened.
Marcus found Laura the next morning.
She was living in an apartment above a laundromat on the south side of the city.
Technically, it wasn’t even her apartment.
A sixty-three-year-old woman named Ruth from a church food pantry rented it and let Laura stay there for whatever she could afford.
Most months, that meant almost nothing.
Laura had worked temporary bookkeeping jobs while pregnant.