Widower, retired teacher, owns two houses, adult son lives abroad.
Widow, pharmacy owner, no children nearby.
Widower, transport business, one daughter (11 at time of loss), owns home outright.
The third one was me.
Behind the list were individual sections. Mine had photographs of my house, a printout of my company’s registration, and notes in Elvira’s tight handwriting. My work schedule. My bank. The name of Ana’s cemetery. How often I visited it.
Halfway down the page was a line that made my hands go cold.
The girl is the only obstacle. Isolate her. He will believe P. over a grieving teenager.
There were other sections, too. Some names had been crossed out with dates written beside them. One had a note: Completed. 1.2 million transferred before he noticed.
I sat on the floor of that room for a long time.
When I could think again, I opened my banking app. I hadn’t checked my personal accounts in months. Patricia handled the household budget, and I trusted her completely.
