My Mother-In-Law Stole My Life Insurance Policy, So I Faked My Death To Expose Her Fraud

I didn't wake up to the sterile beep of a hospital monitor. I woke up to the smell of brewing coffee and old paper.

My eyes fluttered open. I was on a lumpy couch in a dim room. The ceiling was stained with water damage. A man sat in the armchair opposite me, cleaning a pair of spectacles with his tie. He looked like he’d been carved out of granite and exhaustion.

"You're lucky I got to you before patrol did," he said. His voice was gravelly.

I bolted upright, panic seizing me. "Who are you?"

"Miller," he said, sliding a badge across the coffee table. It was a Private Investigator license. "I used to be Fraud Division. Till Barbara Vance got me fired."

He watched me with weary, intelligent eyes. He wasn't going to arrest me.

"I've been tracking Gary Sloan for five years on a Cold Case," Miller continued. "He and your mother-in-law go way back."

He tossed a file onto the table between us. It wasn't the one I stole. It was older, yellowed with age.

"Barbara did this to her first husband, too," Miller said, pointing a calloused finger at the photo of a man who looked vaguely like Mark. "Massive policy. Sudden heart failure. Forensic Evidence went 'missing' from the lab. I couldn't prove it then."

I stared at the file. My stomach dropped. "She's a serial killer?"

"She's a black widow," Miller corrected. "And you're the first fly to make it out of the web alive."