The Old Friend
Chapter 05 - The Old Friend
Priya's initial research, conducted over the following three days, uncovered a detail that immediately reframed everything Harrison thought he understood about his wife's death two years earlier.
"Meredith's maiden name is Voss," Priya told him, during their first full briefing. "She grew up in the same small town as Elise, attended the same high school, two years ahead of her. I found yearbook photos confirming they were part of the same close friend group throughout their teenage years."
"They knew each other for years," Harrison said slowly, "not just briefly, in passing."
"Considerably more than that," Priya confirmed. "I found a local newspaper archive photo from a charity event, nine years ago, both of them attending together, described in the caption as close, longtime friends."
Harrison felt something cold settle over him, understanding now the full, deliberate scope of Meredith's deception, not a single overlooked detail, but a complete, carefully maintained fabrication sustained for over a year of marriage.
"Why would she hide something like this," he asked. "What's the actual benefit to lying about knowing your own wife."
"I don't have a complete answer yet," Priya said. "I want to trace the relationship's history further, particularly around the time of Elise's death. I found something else that concerns me directly."
"What is it," Harrison asked.
"Meredith relocated to your city eight months after Elise died," Priya said. "Not before. After. And her employment records show she took a position at a coffee shop two blocks from your office, the same one, according to your own account, where you two first met."
Harrison sat with the specific, devastating implication of that timeline, understanding that Meredith's arrival in his life hadn't been the coincidental, gradual friendship he'd always believed it to be.
"She followed me there," he said slowly. "Deliberately. After Elise died."
"That's my current working theory," Priya said. "I want considerably more evidence before we treat it as confirmed. I'm requesting Elise's original accident report next, along with any police notes from the initial investigation. I want to understand if there's any connection at all between Meredith's presence and the circumstances of your wife's death."
May you like
Harrison closed his eyes, a specific, sickening dread building steadily in his chest, the growing, unwelcome possibility that his late wife's death hadn't been the tragic accident everyone had always assumed it to be.
"Find out," he said. "Whatever it takes. I need to know exactly what happened to Elise, and exactly what role Meredith actually played in it."
