Chapter 1

"Can you start from the beginning for us?" The detective asked, looking over the woman's features. She was a pale woman with bright red hair, natural no doubt, and freckles that covered every inch of her face. When he looked in her eyes he could see the sadness and hurt swimming in the blue as she recounted the last four years of events.

It was a breezy, hot Tuesday night. Esty and Iris sat in Olive Garden mulling over the days events, Iris could tell, just by looking at her, that something was eating up her best friend. She picked at her food and hardly touched her wine, the glass and plate were as full as when they were brought out.

"What's wrong, Esty?" Iris looked concerned.

"Nothing much," Esty continued to pick at her food and sighed. "My husband's acting different."

"Infidelity?"

Esty only nodded, her lips pursed in a thin line. "There's jewelry on our joint account, it's not mine. He comes home with Merlot on his mouth that isn't mine."

"Are you going to confront him?"

"I'm thinking about it. Do you think I should?"

"I know you love him, Esty. But you should do what you feel is right." Iris laid a hand on Estys and gave her a soft smile. "You're my best friend, I love you, I don't want to see you hurt."

"He comes home late, not at ten or eleven. Sometimes twelve or one, he says it's work but it doesn't sound or look like it."

"Confront him Esty, or don't. You could just pack a bag and stay with me."

"I'm going to confront him."

The next morning there were no calls or texts from Esty. Iris half expected to walk into her living room and see Esty on the couch. She got dressed, went to the local cafe, and headed to work where Esty was bound to be.

The day went by and there still wasn't any word from Esty. Warning bells went off in Iris's head but she ignored them and continued her work, Iris called Esty's husband but he said he hadn't seen pr heard from her since she left for Olive Garden last night. Red flags were popping out of the ground, where was Esty? How had she disappeared?

Iris had decided to drive by Esty's place. She decided she could look around the property to see if she wandered off alone and got lost in the woods, but when she got there something was wrong. There was a new car in the drive, Esty's husbands truck had new tires, and through the open garage door she saw piles of boxes and Esty's car.

Something was extremely wrong.