Chapter 1 - Enjoy the Airport
At 2:00 a.m., the sound of a suitcase zipper cut through the bedroom.
Claire Langley lay motionless beneath the sheets while her husband moved through the walk-in closet with the careful urgency of a burglar.
Victor packed designer shirts, cash, his passport, and the blue velvet case that held his expensive cuff links.
He believed the tea he had prepared for Claire would keep her asleep.
It had not.
She had switched their cups before bringing them upstairs.
Through the reflection in the dark bedroom window, Claire watched him place the final stack of money inside the suitcase.
At 2:18, Victor stopped beside the bed.
“Poor Claire,” he whispered. “You never even saw it coming.”
Then he left.
Claire waited until his car disappeared beyond the snowy driveway before sitting up.
Her phone vibrated at 2:37.
Victor had sent a photograph from Boston Logan Airport.
He stood beside Olivia Marsh, his twenty-nine-year-old mistress. Her head rested against his shoulder, and Claire’s diamond tennis bracelet circled her wrist.
Beneath the photograph was a message:
Goodbye, useless woman. I’ve stripped you of all your assets.
Claire stared at it.
Then she laughed softly.
At 2:45, she replied:
Enjoy the airport.
Twenty-one minutes later, Victor called.
Claire declined it.
He called again.
May you like
Then Olivia did.
By then, the accounts were frozen, Victor’s passport had been flagged for review, and the photograph he sent to humiliate his wife had already been preserved as evidence of attempted flight.
