Beneath the documents lay an envelope.

My name was written across the front in Evelyn’s careful handwriting.

Not angry.

Not shaky.

Perfectly calm.

I opened it slowly, already knowing that whatever was inside would hurt more than the will.

The letter began simply.

“My dear Thomas, I have known who you were from the first week.”

The room seemed to tilt.

I read the line again, hoping the words would rearrange themselves into something less devastating.

They did not.

She wrote that she had seen the way I looked at her medicine cabinet instead of her eyes. She had noticed how my voice changed whenever money was mentioned. She had heard me speaking on the porch one night when I thought her bedroom window was closed.

She had known.

Not near the end.

Not after suspicion grew.

From the beginning.

I had not fooled her.

I had only fooled myself.

Chapter 5: The Woman I Thought Was Weak… Continue Reading ⬇️