Chapter 9

Before Samuel got a call from me to plead and bargain with him after he'd blocked my supplementary credit card, news from the private investigator arrived. The private investigator had sent him plenty of information, including screenshots of news articles from local media accounts. The headline in one of those screenshots read: "Shocking! Mother and Son Found Dead in Residence by Neighbors!" The article that followed was considerably short, and though it did not list the address, it did name the town where the incident occurred. A picture of the cottage that Lucas and I had lived in was also included. Samuel recognized the cottage. He froze, staring at the screenshot, but still didn't believe the story. He called me again, only to be told by a mechanical voice that my number did not exist. He then called me on WhatsApp, but I still did not answer. A sudden thought must have crossed his mind, for he pulled up his banking app and tapped into the supplementary credit card account. W