Chapter 3My Undercover Wife

Under Alex’s constant, cloying persuasion, Ginnifer actually took an extended leave of absence. This was once unthinkable. The department couldn’t function without her, she’d always said. Every second counted in the war on drugs; lives were on the line.

In seven years, she had never missed a single minute of work for a family matter—not for my emergency surgery, not for our daughter’s late-night trips to the ER.

But for Alex, she was willing to break all her own rules.

I floated in the air, watching her clumsily tie on an apron I’d bought her, trying to follow a recipe to make soup for him. Every time her work phone rang, her voice was laced with irritation.

“Didn’t I say my deputy is handling everything? Are you deaf? I’m on leave! Don’t call me unless the world is ending!”

The irony was a physical pain. How I had yearned for her to be present like this, just for one day. I remembered Daisy’s second birthday. She had a raging fever, crying for her mommy. I called Ginnifer over and over, from midnight until dawn. When she finally answered, her voice was a whip crack of fury.

“Leo, can you for once try to be an adult? I am in the middle of an operation! Your constant calls could get me killed! If the child is sick, take her to a hospital! You knew I was busy when you married me! If you can’t handle one simple thing, what good are you?”

Back then, I had believed her. I was consumed with guilt. Now, I saw only the pathetic, gullible fool I had been.

After dinner, Alex lounged on the sofa, letting Ginnifer feed him pieces of fruit. He spoke as if the thought had just occurred to him. “Ginnifer, Leo still hasn’t come back… You don’t think… he ran off with another woman, do you?”

Ginnifer’s face went rigid. “He wouldn’t dare! Who else would want a useless, spineless man like him?”

Then, as if struck by a thought, she found my parents’ landline and dialed. It rang and rang, unanswered. She tried my father’s cell. Unanswered.

“What the hell?” Ginnifer stood up, pacing the living room, a storm brewing in her eyes. That ominous feeling crept over her again.

Alex came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Don’t worry, Ginnifer. Maybe his parents are mad at you too. Just ignoring your calls to make a point. Why don’t you just drive over there and ask them in person?”

It seemed logical. She grabbed her car keys and stormed out.

I followed her, watching her speed through the city toward my parents’ house. It was a place she rarely visited. My parents, knowing the sacrifices I made for our secret marriage, always treated her with overwhelming warmth. They would cook all her favorite dishes, fussing over her, terrified she might feel unwelcome. “Leo,” my mom used to say, “Ginnifer’s work is important. You have to be understanding. We’re here to help.”

But now, the old apartment they had lived in for thirty years was dark and silent. The door was locked.

Ginnifer pounded on the cold metal. “Mom! Dad! Open up! Leo! I know you’re in there! Open the damn door!”

Her shouts echoed in the empty hallway, laced with a tremor she herself didn’t recognize.

The next-door neighbor, Mrs. Gable, poked her head out. “Oh, Ginnifer, dear. Stop knocking. No one’s been home at the Sterlings’ for over two weeks! I thought I smelled something strange a few days ago, but no one answered. Figured they went on a long trip.”

Ginnifer stumbled back, staring at the closed door, her eyes wide with a dawning horror.

Over two weeks.

There it was again.

The bodies in the shallow grave. Her daughter’s school. And now, her in-laws. All the timelines were converging into a single, terrifying point.

That chilling sense of familiarity seized her again. For the first time, she felt it—the terrifying realization that something had spun completely, irrevocably out of her control.