The Wife He Buried Alive novel · Chapter 10 of 32

Chapter 10: The Safe

The safe opened on the first try.

A green light blinked, and the steel door swung out on a quiet hinge.

My mother's pearls were on the top shelf, in the same cream velvet box he had given me before the wedding.

I took them out and held them in my palm.

They were the only part of her I had left, and he had kept them safe for four and a half years.

It made me angrier than I wanted to be.

Under the pearls lay a thick manila folder, and under the folder lay a clear plastic evidence bag with a paper tag.

In the bag was a piece of metal tubing about as long as my hand.

I knew what it was before I read the tag. I had seen one like it on a repair bill once, and I knew where it sat in a car.

BRAKE LINE, the tag said, in a mechanic's square print. Driver's side, forward section. Recovered 4/29.

Under that, in the same hand: Cut with a blade, not worn. Partial cut, so fluid bleeds out over several miles. Not an accident.

Under that, in a different pen, was a date.

4/30.

The day after my funeral.

I read it four times. The pearls slid out of my hand and I caught them against my chest.

I opened the folder, and my fingers had gone numb.

There were photographs of the wrecked car on a flatbed, with the river weeds still hanging off the bumper.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Wife He Buried Alive from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.