Saving Us(28)

“You know that I was seeing Rick, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “You can have him.”

She shook her head. “No! I don’t want anything to do with him or his lies. That’s why I’m here. I think we both are in serious danger.”

I stood up and looked right at her. “Heather, come out with it. I have people coming here soon. I know Rick is an asshole, that is why I left him. You know this already, so I want to know what exactly it is that you are here to tell me.”

She put her hands up to her face. “Just give me a second. I slept in that abandoned car in the parking lot.”

Wow. Was she really that scared that she couldn’t go home to her own house?

“Why did you do that?”

“He told me that if he found me, he would kill me. I threw my phone away and have been hiding ever since.”

I tightened my face up and shook my head. “Heather, Rick may be a wife beater, but he is hardly a murderer.”

“I guess you don’t know about his first wife?”

“I know she left him with a kid.”

She shook her head and sighed. “No, that was his second wife and she didn’t leave, she went insane.”

“What are you saying? He was only married twice.”

“Amy, he has been married three times. I swear that I am telling you the truth.” She looked right at me. “His first wife died under suspicious circumstances. Look it up on your phone.”

I pulled up the internet on my phone and searched for my husband’s name with death of wife next to it. When nothing came up, I looked over at Heather. “There’s nothing here. Heather you need to leave. I am going to have enough problems filing for divorce. I don’t need this nonsense.” I started to turn around, but she had stood up and grabbed ahold of my arm.

“Search Richard Martin loses wife.” The look on her face was that of a very scared and very determined person.

“Who the hell is Richard Martin?”

She tapped on my phone. “Just look it up, Amy. If you want me to leave once you see it for yourself, I will.”

I was disgusted being in the same room as this woman. It made me especially sick knowing that she’d slept with not only my soon to be ex-husband, but also Conner. I hated her so much. To prove her wrong and get her out of my salon, I typed it into the search engine and hit enter. “When this turns out to be nothing, I want you to lea…Holy shit!” His picture popped right up on the screen. “Is this…Is it really him?”

“I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not found a little address book in his truck and searched it myself.”

I’d seen pictures of Rick from twenty years ago and this was definitely him. I stood there just staring at my phone for a second before I could even read the article.

Elena Brewer Martin Dies After Falling Down Stairs

I read the article and looked up at Heather. “So, it says she died from falling down the stairs. It doesn’t say anything about her being murdered.”

“Search Elena Martin death.” Heather stood there waiting for me to do it.

Sure enough, in black and white, it said that police had accused the husband of foul play. “Apparently they had lived in a small town in Colorado and everyone there turned against him, especially his in-laws. They won custody of his son and refused to let him see him anymore. He was questioned and taken into custody, but was cleared for lack of evidence. The thing is, why would he change his name and never talk about it to anyone? I mean, he has a kid out there and never mentioned him before. That night I found that little book shoved between his seat, I never said a word until I went home. When he called me, I asked him who Elena Martin was to him. Amy, he started flipping out and threatened to kill me if I told anyone. I could hear the pure anger in his voice. The next morning I went to go out to work and he was standing outside waiting for me. I made it to my car before he took a bat and busted out my window. Thankfully, I managed to floor it and pull away before he could get to me. He called me and told me that if he found me, I would be dead.”

I heard what she was saying, but was so shocked that I didn’t know what to say to her. I was so angry for living with that man that I obviously had known nothing about. What else could he be hiding and was he really capable of killing the woman? “Well, why would you want me to get involved?”

“The last time he called and threatened me, before I got rid of the phone, he said he was going to take care of me and you. Amy, I think he wants us both dead.”

I shook my head. “We need to call the police.” I picked up my phone and dialed.

Heather stood in front of me with tears streaming down her face. Once the police were on their way, I made sure all of the doors were locked and we sat there waiting.