Chapter 2 - I Discovered Gideon's Dead Wife Was Alive in an Old Photograph, and the Man He Trusted Most Had Been Lying About Her DeathThe photograph had been taken three years after Elena's supposed death.
There was no way around it.
I stared at the timestamp.
Then at her face.
Then at Gideon.
“She was alive.”
He took the photograph from me.
His fingers tightened around the paper.
“Where did you find this?”
“Behind the frame in the east hallway.”
He stared at the image.
Elena stood outside a café.
Dark coat.
Hair tied back.
No wedding ring.
Beside her was a man I didn't recognize.
Gideon looked sick.
“That's impossible.”
“I agree.”
He turned the photograph over.
Nothing.
No date.
No message.
Only a tiny handwritten mark.
E.V.
“Who is the man?”
“I don't know.”
“Ask Marco?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he would already know.”
We took the photograph to an investigator.
The man beside Elena was identified within six hours.
His name was Anthony Vale.
A private physician.
And a former consultant to the Vitali family.
He had disappeared after Elena's death.
Gideon had fired him.
Why?
No one knew.
We traced him to a small town in Vermont.
He was dead.
Heart attack.
Five years earlier.
The evidence trail was almost too neat.
I didn't trust it.
Gideon didn't either.
“Someone cleaned the board,” he said.
“Why?”
“To make the game impossible to reconstruct.”
We searched his father's old records.
The family had kept extensive archives.
Shipping.
Banking.
Properties.
Medical reports.
Everything.
Except Elena.
Her file was almost empty.
That bothered me.
Gideon noticed.
“What's wrong?”
“Your wife doesn't exist.”
“What?”
“There should be more.”
“There are.”
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“Marriage license. Prenatal records. Medical appointments. Travel. Tax records. Personal correspondence.”
He stared.
“You've searched?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She appears only where someone needed her to appear.”
Gideon sat back.
“That means?”
“She was being constructed.”
He didn't answer.
The next day, we visited Elena's parents.
They lived in New Hampshire.
They opened the door.
When Gideon introduced himself, Elena's mother cried.
Not from happiness.
From fear.
“Where is she?” Gideon asked.
Her mother shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You saw her.”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Gideon stared.
“How?”
“She came at night.”
“Why?”
“To say goodbye.”
“Did she tell you why?”
The woman looked at me.
Then back at Gideon.
“She said someone in your house wanted her dead.”
Gideon's face went white.
“Who?”
“She wouldn't say.”
“Did she mention Marco?”
The woman began to cry.
“No.”
“That wasn't my question.”
She shook her head.
“She said she trusted you.”
“Then why run?”
“Because she knew you would never believe her.”
Gideon looked broken.
“Did she give you anything?”
The woman hesitated.
Then brought out a box.
Inside was a wedding ring.
Elena's.
And a letter.
Gideon opened it.
The handwriting was hers.
Gideon,
If you ever find this, it means I'm still alive.
Do not look for me until the man beside you leaves.
He will tell you he loves you.
He will tell you he saved you.
He will lie.
Gideon's breathing stopped.
He looked at me.
“The man beside you.”
Marco.
The letter continued.
I know you think your blindness is an illness.
It isn't.
Someone wants you dependent.
Someone wants you afraid.
And someone wants your company.
Gideon's hands shook.
Elena's final line was short.
Do not trust Marco.
We returned to Boston.
Marco was waiting.
He smiled.
“Everything all right, sir?”
Gideon stared at him.
“Yes.”
Marco looked at me.
“And you?”
I didn't answer.
He noticed.
That night, Gideon made a decision.
He would pretend his eyesight was getting worse.
He would pretend the poisoning had not been discovered.
He would let Marco think he was still vulnerable.
We created a test.
A glass of whiskey was placed on the desk.
Gideon didn't drink it.
I watched.
Marco entered.
He picked it up.
He brought it closer to Gideon's hand.
Then paused.
His eyes flicked toward me.
I lowered my gaze.
Marco poured.
Gideon lifted the glass.
“Thank you.”
Marco smiled.
“Anything for you.”
Then he left.
Gideon waited.
“Don't move,” I whispered.
He stared.
“I didn't.”
I took the glass to the lab.
Two days later, results came.
Thallium.
Again.
Marco had poisoned it.
That should have been enough.
It wasn't.
Because when we searched Marco's room, we found nothing.
No poison.
No records.
No money.
He had planned everything too well.
Then I found a hidden compartment in the desk.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena.
Marco.
And another man.
Gideon's father.
All three smiling.
The photo was twenty-four years old.
On the back were words:
WE NEVER STOPPED WATCHING HER.
Gideon stared.
“Who is the third man?”
“My father.”
His voice changed.
“I thought he hated Elena.”
I looked at the image.
“He didn't.”
Gideon shook his head.
“My father died before our wedding.”
“Then how did he know her?”
We dug further.
The answer was horrifying.
Elena wasn't merely Gideon's wife.
She had been an informant.
She had entered the Vitali family to uncover corruption.
But someone had turned her.
Someone had convinced her to stay.
And someone else had fallen in love.
Gideon's father.
The marriage had been a cover.
Until it wasn't.
Elena had genuinely loved Gideon.
And when she discovered the truth about his father's organization, she tried to expose it.
That's when Marco intervened.
He had been the family's fixer.
He manipulated evidence.
He convinced Gideon Elena was betraying him.
Then staged her death.
But why poison Gideon?
Because Gideon's father had left a trust.
If Gideon died without an heir, control passed to Marco.
The final document confirmed it.
Marco was not merely an adviser.
He was the successor.
I looked at Gideon.
“He wants your company.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Gideon stared at Elena's photograph.
“He wants the whole family.”
The following morning, Marco disappeared.
His phone was found on the harbor.
His car was abandoned.
A single message had been written on Gideon's desk.
YOU SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED HER.
I stared at the words.
Gideon did too.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“Elena is alive.”
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