Chapter 5
Lunch was ready in no time.
Linda could cook, and she put out a full spread with a soup, all of it looking and smelling exactly the way Richard liked it.
The atmosphere at the table was strange and suffocating.
Linda was playing the role of the gracious hostess to perfection.
She kept piling food onto Helen's plate, acting all concerned and playing the doting hostess.
She said, "Helen, try the baked bass. It's Rich's favorite.
"You've been out there taking care of Keith for the past two years. You must not have been eating or sleeping well. You've lost so much weight.
"Now that you're back, I'll cook you something tasty every day to help you recover."
Every word Linda said was her way of marking her territory.
Every move she made was a reminder to Helen of who was really in charge now.
Richard, meanwhile, acted like he owned the place.
He basked in Linda's attention, and whenever he opened his mouth, it was just to sing her praises.
"Linda's cooking puts any restaurant chef to shame," Richard said.
"Helen, you ought to take a few lessons from her," he added.
Helen kept her head down and quietly worked through the food on her plate.
She swallowed all the disgust and anger along with it.
She couldn't let herself explode.
She had to grit her teeth and endure it.
She even had to force herself to squeeze out a smile for Linda.
"You really are good at this, Linda," Helen said, forcing a smile.
"Looks like I'll be relying on you a lot from now on," she added.
The whole meal tasted like ash in her mouth.
After the meal, Linda jumped up to clear the table.
Richard just sat on the couch, picking his teeth and watching TV, acting like a hands-off boss, as if he owned the place.
Back in the day, this would've been unthinkable.
Richard used to be a bit of a chauvinist, but he'd still help out with the chores.
Now, Linda was waiting on him hand and foot, treating him like royalty.
Helen watched the scene unfold, her heart turning to ice.
Richard had been pampered for so long that he had gone wild, as if nobody else in the house mattered.
She stood up and said, "Let me do the dishes."
Linda quickly stopped her.
"Oh, Helen, sit down and relax. I'm not letting you do the dishes," Linda said.
"I can handle it," Linda said.
Linda made Helen sit down on the couch, grabbed the dishes, and headed to the kitchen.
Water was already running in the kitchen.
Now it was just Helen and Richard in the living room.
The TV was blasting some noisy family soap opera.
Richard was completely absorbed, eyes glued to the TV screen.
Helen looked at his profile, the profile of the man she had loved for forty years.
Yet now, he felt like a complete stranger to her.
She sat in silence for a moment, then finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, uncertain.
"Rich, how long has it been since we just sat together like this and watched TV?" Helen asked softly.
Richard didn't even glance away from the TV, just gave a distracted "mm-hmm."
"Yeah, it's been over two years, I guess," he replied.
Helen felt another sharp pain in her chest.
"Yeah, over two years," she echoed.
"Things have really changed around here," she added.
She looked around the room.
The couch cover had been swapped for the floral print Linda liked.
An elegant fruit platter sat on the coffee table, filled with neatly sliced fruit.
A vase in the corner held fresh lilies.
Everywhere she looked, the house bore the imprint of another woman.
And everything that used to be hers was slowly fading away.
"Yeah, Linda likes things clean and tidy," Richard said, a hint of pride in his voice.
"She's a lot more hardworking than you ever were," he added.
Helen clenched her fists, the voice recorder in her pocket feeling like it was burning against her skin.
She knew it wasn't time yet.
She needed to find the perfect moment to make her move.
That night, Helen offered to sleep in the guest room.
Richard didn't even try to stop her, not even a polite word.
He just acted like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Helen lay on the single bed David used to sleep in, tossing and turning, unable to find any peace.
The walls were paper-thin.
She could just make out Richard and Linda talking and laughing in the master bedroom, with Linda's laughter ringing out from time to time.
Every sound was like a needle, piercing her heart.
She didn't even know how she managed to survive until the early hours.
When things finally went silent next door, she quietly slipped out of bed.
Barefoot, she tiptoed out of the room like a thief in the night.
The living room was swallowed by darkness, with only a faint sliver of moonlight slipping in through the window.
Her target was the study.
That was where they kept all the important documents.
The house deed, their marriage license, the bank books, and every investment contract Richard had.
The study door wasn't locked.
She eased it open, slipped in, and carefully pulled it shut behind her.
She didn't dare turn on the lights.
She could only rummage through the desk drawers, relying on the dim glow from her phone screen.
The first drawer was completely empty.
The second drawer just had some useless old newspapers.
She checked each one, one after another.
Every drawer had been cleared out, and nothing was left.
All the important stuff was gone.
Helen's heart sank little by little.
Refusing to give up, she headed straight for the safe hidden behind the bookshelf.
That was where they used to stash their jewelry and some cash.
Her fingers moved automatically as she entered the code.
With a soft click, the safe popped open.
The inside was as empty as the drawers.
Helen slumped to the floor, a chill washing over her.
Alex's fears had come true.
Richard had already started shifting the assets.
And judging by how things looked, he'd probably already moved most of it.
She was too late, and there was nothing left to save.
Just as she was about to give up, her hand accidentally brushed against a corner under the desk.
Something was wedged there.
She shone her phone's flashlight on it.
It was a tiny envelope, taped to the bottom of the desk, hidden away where no one would ever think to look.
She gently removed it.
The envelope wasn't sealed.
She emptied it, and a folded piece of paper slipped out.
When she unfolded it, Helen's eyes went wide in shock.
It was a copy of a life insurance policy.
Richard was the policyholder.
And in the beneficiary section, one name stood out, clear as day.
It was Linda Parker.