Linda placed a photo on the table. It was Chelsea but younger, maybe twenty-three or twenty-four years old. She was with an older man, about sixty years old, at what looked like a wedding.
“Her first marriage,” Linda said. “She married Richard Miller at twenty-four, owner of a chain of hardware stores in San Diego. Widower, with two adult children. The marriage lasted two years. Richard died of a heart attack. Chelsea inherited a property valued at $2,800,000. The children tried to contest the will, but they couldn’t. Everything was legal.”
“The children… what happened to them?” I asked.
“One lives in New York. The other, the younger daughter, filed a complaint against Chelsea for threats but withdrew it a week later. When I tracked her down by phone and asked her about it, she hung up. I called her back and she said, word for word, ‘That woman is dangerous. I don’t want to know anything about her or her cursed money.’”
I felt a chill run down my spine.
Linda put down another photo. Another wedding. Chelsea with another older man.
“Second marriage. Franklin Adams, a textile businessman in Dallas. Fifty-eight years old, also a widower. They married when Chelsea was twenty-seven. The marriage lasted just a year and a half. Franklin suffered a fall at home that left him in a coma. He died three weeks later. Chelsea sold the house and the business. Estimated profit: $3,200,000.”
“Did anyone investigate the fall?”
“Yes, but they didn’t find anything suspicious. Chelsea said Franklin had been drinking that night and slipped on the stairs. There were no witnesses. The house security cameras were broken.”
I looked up abruptly.
“Broken?”
“The same as at your son’s house now, Commander. Same pattern.”
My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
“Is there more?”
Linda nodded and pulled out a third set of documents.
“Third marriage. Joseph Vega, a retired civil engineer in San Diego. Sixty-two years old, widower. They married when Chelsea was thirty. This marriage ended differently. Joseph didn’t die, but his son, Paul Vega—twenty-six years old—disappeared six months after the wedding.”
“Disappeared?”
“Literally. He left his house one night and never returned. He left a text message for his father saying he needed time to think, that he was going abroad. He hasn’t been heard from in four years. Joseph tried to search for him, but eventually gave up. He fell into severe depression and signed documents giving Chelsea legal power over his finances. She admitted him to a nursing home and sold all his properties. Estimated gain: four million dollars.”
