After My Husband Left Me for His Ex, I Reported His Murder

1: 1

A week after my husband Grayson Henson vanished, I found the note he'd left me.

I'm sorry. Sabrina Frost finally said yes to me.

Sabrina was Grayson's old flame. Five years ago, when she went abroad to stay with relatives, Grayson had cried like a lovesick fool.

His parents were so furious they both passed out, and the first thing they did after coming to was drive to the notary office to formally cut ties with their son.

Just as I'd given up all hope and was getting ready to file for divorce, a text came through on my phone.

"Marci, Grayson didn't betray you. Someone murdered him. His body is hidden in the house you're living in right now."

"Call the police, quick. You only have today. If you don't find the killer, you'll be dead by nightfall."

I froze.

The number was my mother's.

But my mother had died three years ago.

I thought someone was playing a sick joke on me.

I checked the number again, fast.

There was no mistake. It was my mother's.

While I was still reeling, another message came through: KO!

My heart started slamming against my ribs.

That was the code word my mother and I had set up. It meant life-or-death emergency. No one else knew it, just the two of us.

I grabbed my phone and dialed the police.

"Is this the police department? My name is Marcella Larson. I'm at 3 Elmwood Court, Lakeview Estates. There's been a murder here. Please come right away."

I put down the phone and dropped onto the couch, shaking all over, my head empty.

My mother had come back from the dead?

Grayson had been murdered?

His body was in this house?

Ten minutes later, a patrol car pulled up outside.

Three officers came in.

My father-in-law was watering the flowers in the yard. The moment the officers appeared, his face changed and he hurried over to meet them.

"Officers, I think you've got the wrong address."

"No, we don't. We just got a call. There's been a murder in this house. Who reported it?"

2: 2

I stepped out of the room.

"It's me."

"What?!"

The words had barely left my mouth when four voices went off at once.

Besides my father-in-law, there were three others.

My mother-in-law, my husband's brother Maurice Henson, and his sister Stella Henson.

All four of them stared at me like I was insane.

I ignored the four pairs of eyes.

I turned to the officers. "The dead man is my husband. His name is Grayson Henson, and he was murdered. His body is somewhere in this house. Please search it right away."

"She's lost it! She's lost it!"

Before the officers could say anything, Stella jumped in, practically leaping off the floor.

She pointed at me and turned to the officers.

"My brother ran off with his old flame, and it broke my sister-in-law's nerves. Her mind isn't right anymore."

She went back inside and returned with the note Grayson had left, pressing it into an officer's hand.

The captain's name was Alvin Finch. He glanced at the message on the note and asked me.

"Ms. Larson, is this your husband's handwriting?"

"Yes."

"Look carefully. Could someone have forged it?"

I shook my head.

"No. It's his writing."

I'd already checked, long before this.

It really was Grayson's hand, especially that careless scrawl of a signature. No one could have copied it.

Finch's brow furrowed.

I knew what he was thinking. How could a man who'd walked out on his family end up murdered inside this house?

I had my doubts too, of course. But I chose to believe my mother.

Stella sneered.

"Come on, so a man walked out on you. Is it really worth all this? You want me to take you to the hospital, get your head looked at?"

"That's no way to talk to your sister-in-law." My mother-in-law shot Stella a glare, then explained to Finch, "My daughter-in-law gave her whole heart to my son, and that ungrateful boy threw it away. God, it's my fault. I raised him wrong."

My father-in-law jumped in, furious.

"Better if he'd died overseas. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have that son."

But Maurice offered comfort. "Dad, Mom, don't get worked up over this. It's not worth ruining your health. Everyone has their own path, you can't force it. My brother's gone, but you've still got me, don't you?"

My mother-in-law, eyes rimmed red, said to me, "Marcella, forget about that wretch. You're my daughter now. Once the divorce goes through, we'll find you a good family to marry into."

Captain Finch looked at me, his face serious.

"Ms. Larson, do you know what happens to someone who files a false report?"

Before I could answer, Stella cut in.

"My sister-in-law's just in shock. Her mind's gone hazy for now. I'm sorry, officers, sorry to have troubled you."

It caught me off guard. She was usually such a quiet person, but today she kept throwing herself out in front.

Just then a text came in on my phone.

Whatever you do, don't let the police leave. If you do, you'll die right away.

From my mother again.

3: 3

"I didn't file a false report. My husband was murdered, and his body is somewhere in this house."

My voice was shaking.

I believe in a connection between two souls.

Great danger was coming, and somewhere out of sight, my mother was trying to save me.

It had to be that!

Captain Finch turned to two of his officers without hesitation.

"Search the place."

"Yes, sir."

The two officers moved at once.

My father-in-law had this house built three years ago. He said it was so the whole family could stay under one roof during the holidays.

He took it seriously. He had someone read the feng shui, drew up the blueprints himself, and oversaw the construction in person.

The layout was close to a villa's, three floors with a courtyard of about four hundred square feet.

The two officers went floor by floor, room by room, courtyard included.

After a thorough search, no body turned up.

My father-in-law spoke, unhurried.

"Captain Finch, they say you shouldn't air the family's dirty laundry, but today we've got no choice.

"After my son married Marcella, the ungrateful boy never got over his old flame. He hurt my daughter-in-law's feelings again and again.

"This time he heard the old flame had divorced, so he dropped his wife in a heartbeat and ran off overseas. A disgrace to the Henson name."

The moment he finished, my mother-in-law jumped in.

"That's right, that's right. That's exactly what pushed my daughter-in-law over the edge and made her call the police over nothing. Officers, I'm so sorry you had to see this."

Maurice and Stella backed them up too.

Stella most of all.

She kept rolling her eyes at me, muttering, "So humiliating. Doesn't even care that people are laughing at us."

Captain Finch looked at me, doubtful.

"Ms. Larson, what's the basis for your report?"

I stuck to the facts and showed the texts on my phone.

Before Captain Finch could say anything, all four of them let out a startled "Ah."

"Marci, isn't your mother already dead?"

"How could a dead person send messages?"

"There's obviously some mistake."

Again it was Stella who spoke first.

"Marcella, don't you get it? Somebody's messing with you on purpose, and you actually fell for it and called the police. Your head really is broken."

4: 4

Captain Finch took down my mother's details and called them into the department to verify.

The answer came back fast.

My mother had died three years ago. No question about it.

"Enough of this nonsense!"

Captain Finch shot me a glare.

He turned to the other two officers.

"We're leaving."

The three of them hadn't even cleared the yard when another text lit up my phone.

KO! KO! KO!

Stop the officers. The second they leave, you die.

I stopped caring how it looked.

"Wait!" I shouted.

I lunged in front of the three officers and dropped straight to my knees.

"Please, help me!"

Captain Finch's expression changed.

He pulled me back to my feet.

He gave an order to one of the men.

"Examine her."

"Yes, sir."

The officer knew his job. He took out a stethoscope, listened to my heartbeat, then lifted my eyelid and checked.

"Normal."

That one word meant my nerves were fine. I was a sane, ordinary woman.

Captain Finch turned to the other man.

"Tim Perry, call in the K-9 unit."

Tim was reaching for his phone when my father-in-law's cell suddenly rang.

He glanced at the screen and said loudly, "It's my son!"

A video call.

And there on the screen was Grayson.

He was looking at me with a smile.

His tone was apologetic. "Marci, it was just a joke, I swear. I never thought you'd take it seriously. Sabrina's in a bad way, so I came to be with her for a while. Once she's settled down, I'll head home."

His father laid into him.

"You idiot! You think that's something to joke about? Look at the state you've put your wife in. Get back here right now."

That settled it. Nothing left to be suspicious of. Captain Finch's face went hard. "Ms. Larson, if you keep making trouble, we'll take you in right now."

As the three officers turned to go again, another text came rushing in.

Look behind your husband.

I scanned the video, and a cry tore out of me before I could stop it.

"Something's wrong here!"