Page 9 of Till Death Do Us Part

"Again, I have literally told that to the police."

"I hear about stories like that all the time on the news, where some father kills his entire family. We can't let that happen to them. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, Mom. I agree.”

Kyla felt like someone had plunged a knife into her heart. She felt so worried for her poor sister.

"I just know something happened to her," her mother said, her fists clenching in rage. "The police don't seem to be doing anything. We have to do something. We have to find Rachel and make sure she's safe—and the children, of course. They're our priority now."

"I will talk to a lawyer tomorrow," Kyla said.

"I know a good one," her mom said, grabbing her phone. "I'll text you his info. He can help us."

Chapter5

Matt and I sat at the dinner table in exhausted silence. The children had gone to their rooms, Angel had been put down for the night, and the dishes had been put away. The day had been full of investigation and questioning, but the seriousness of the case still lingered in the air like an electric current. We both knew that all we wanted was to collapse into bed and take solace in the darkness of sleep, but neither of us could bring ourselves to move. The adrenaline was still rushing through our bodies. Matt tapped his fingers on the dining room table; the sound was like a drummer's cymbals, a staccato beat of percussion instruments.

We were both so lost in thought that we jumped when my telephone suddenly rang, the shrill sound shattering the room's stillness. I hurried to it, my heart pounding, and picked it up.

"Yes?" I said, my voice tense.

On the other end of the line was a voice I recognized. It was the chief, and she had news. I put the call on speakerphone so Matt could listen in.

"The airline confirms that Rachel bought tickets to fly to New York on the day she disappeared. The flight left at 12:15 but without her. She checked in online but never showed up at the airport," Annie, the Chief of Police, said. There was a long silence as Matt and I processed this information.

"So, what does this mean?" I finally asked. "Could she still be in town?"

"It's possible," Annie replied. "But it looks like she might have attempted to leave town without telling anyone." She paused momentarily before adding, "But why she never showed up… that's the mystery. We'll have to look into that. It worries me."

My pulse raced as we hung up, and I turned to Matt and saw the same anticipation in his eyes.

"So, we have the plane tickets for New York," I said and grabbed the wine, then poured myself another glass. I handed him a beer from the fridge, throwing a glance around me. The house was a mess since we were still renovating the kitchen and the extra rooms upstairs. Elijah's room was only half painted, and we still needed to put the new toilet in the bathroom. I sort of wanted to get it done right away, but I simply couldn't. I could see on Matt's face that neither could he. We had no more energy for today, and it would have to wait. I couldn't even stand to look at my kitchen and hadn't been able to cook as it was such a mess. We had ordered Thai food instead, which the children had been very happy about.

"But the airline says she never showed up. She checked in that very morning online, so she was planning on going, we must assume, and her husband didn’t know of it. What the heck happened to her?"

Matt nodded. "Okay, so here's my theory. What if John found out about the tickets earlier? What if he didn't just see them today? He could have found them days or maybe even weeks ago and just not told her."

"Yeah," I said and sipped my wine pensively. "I was thinking the same thing. You think he got angry? Realizing she was planning on leaving him?"

Matt nodded and drank from his beer. "Exactly. Could it be that she was trying to leave, and then John killed her because he didn't want her to leave him?" he said, his voice somber.

"It's definitely a possibility and a motive. But what did he do to her if he did? We don't know if she’s still out there somewhere. She might be alive."

Matt sighed. "Or maybe she found another way of leaving—one John couldn't track. Did she have any money? Maybe stored away in a secret account somewhere? Did she have friends in the area? Maybe some that John didn't know about? Where he wouldn't come looking for her?"

I shook my head. There was a lot of work to be done. I was just hoping I could sleep and wouldn't lie awake thinking about this. I tended to keep mulling things over and over in my mind instead of sleeping.

"We need to find that out. We still need to look into her finances more, see if there's any indication of her leaving in a more mysterious fashion." I sighed, leaning back in my chair. "Like if she rented a car or booked a hotel room somewhere."

"That should be doable. You know… tracking her credit cards, debit cards, and bank account."

"But we also need to consider the possibility that Rachel never intended to leave," I said, taking another sip of my wine. "What if someone else bought the tickets in her name?"

Matt leaned forward. A frown grew between his eyes. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "Maybe someone did this to make it look like she was leaving—to fool us into thinking she left."

Matt's eyes widened. "That's a possibility too. But who would do that and why?"

---