Chapter 3 - THE WOMEN BEFORE ME
Investigators recovered the brown bottle, the yellow legal pad, financial records, and Nathan’s laptop.
The preliminary analysis of the cup suggested it contained a prescription heart medication in an amount that had no reasonable connection to herbal tea.
Rebecca came into the waiting room several hours later with an expression I will never forget.
“Claire, Nathan was married before.”
I nodded slowly.
“He told me he had one short marriage in his twenties.”
Rebecca sat beside me.
“There were two.”
The first woman was named Allison Price.
She had passed away unexpectedly five years earlier after becoming ill at home.
Nathan later received property and investment accounts from her estate.
His second wife, Melanie Cross, experienced a sudden medical emergency nearly two years later.
Nathan collected a large insurance payment and became the owner of her lake property.
My throat went dry.
“Why didn’t I know any of this?”
“Because he apparently worked very hard to make sure you didn’t.”
The laptop contained folders.
ALLISON.
MELANIE.
CLAIRE.
Inside my folder were copies of my medical history, work schedule, property information, retirement accounts, and insurance documents.
There was also a timeline.
First meeting.
Relationship.
Marriage.
Insurance.
Property access.
Final stage.
But one sentence hurt more than everything else.
Strong candidate. Stable career. Own property. One child — arrangements required.
I read it three times.
My marriage had not begun because Nathan happened to fall in love with me.
I had been evaluated.
Selected.
And planned around.
For a long time, I sat there unable to speak.
Every memory began rearranging itself.
The first time Nathan brought me flowers.
The dinners.
The vacations.
The proposal.
The promises.
Things I had believed were spontaneous suddenly felt rehearsed.
And somewhere inside that plan was my eleven-year-old son.
Two days later, Judith asked to speak with me through her attorney.
Rebecca advised me that I did not owe her anything.
But I wanted answers.
Judith looked completely different without her carefully styled hair, pearls, and polished smile.
She seemed smaller.
Tired.
“I’m going to cooperate,” she said.
I said nothing.
“I know you don’t want an apology.”
“An apology would not explain any of this.”
Judith stared at the table.
“Nathan made terrible financial decisions years ago. He lost almost everything in a private medical investment. Allison had family money. When she was gone, what he received kept him from losing his business.”
I felt sick.
“And then you decided to repeat it.”
Judith closed her eyes.
She explained that she had helped Nathan meet women who appeared financially secure, independent, and somewhat isolated.
She attended charity dinners, medical fundraisers, and community events.
She built trust first.
Then Nathan appeared.
That was exactly how I met him.
Three years earlier, Judith approached me at a fundraiser for a children’s hospital foundation.
She praised my work.
We talked for nearly an hour.
Then she introduced me to her charming, successful son.
I had believed it was coincidence.
It was not.
“What about Owen?” I asked.
Judith looked away.
“You were the first woman with a child.”
That sentence made my hands curl into fists.
“So what was supposed to happen to him?”
Judith explained that Nathan planned to tell people he was too overwhelmed to raise another man’s child alone.
Owen would temporarily stay with Denise, an acquaintance of Judith’s, while Nathan dealt with the house, insurance, and accounts.
“My son is not paperwork you move out of the way.”
Judith lowered her head.
“I understand that now.”
“No.”
I stood.
“You understand it because Owen stopped you.”
I left.
But Judith’s decision to cooperate gave investigators something Nathan had spent years making sure nobody had.
May you like
A witness from inside his own family.
And once she started talking, the story Nathan had carefully built around himself began collapsing.
