Chapter 5 - The Vanished Husbandâs SecretThe lights cut out completely, plunging the house into pitch blackness. Anna screamed. Luna hissed in the darkness, her claws digging into my leather jacket as I held her tight.

"Richard?" Anna sobbed into the dark. "Is that you?! Why are you doing this?!"
"Richard isn't coming to save you, Anna," the voice over the speakers sneered. "Richard died eighteen months ago in this very house. But you... you never looked close enough at his financial records, did you?"
I pulled out my heavy flashlight, shining the beam around the dark entryway. "Anna, who else had access to this house?"
"His... his business partner, Marcus!" Anna gasped, realization dawning on her. "Marcus was the executor of Richard's $5 million life insurance policy! But it only pays out to Marcus if I die without heirs!"
The pieces fit together in a horrifying picture. Marcus hadn't just murdered Richardâhe had buried him within the vast wall spaces of the old house and spent months living in the hidden attic crawlspaces, slowly poisoning Anna to look like a natural death from stress and heart failure.
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And the only flaw in his perfect crime was a 12-pound gray cat who refused to let her human die.
CHAPTER HOOK: Heavy footsteps began descending the main staircase toward us in the dark, accompanied by the metallic scraping of a crowbar.