Brenda is perplexed when her late son’s wife denies knowing her and astounded when she visits her son’s ᴄᴇᴍᴇᴛᴇʀʏ and notices her daughter-in-law’s tombstone nearby.
Brenda seeks answers from her son’s best friend, but his suspicious conduct forces her to unravel the mystery alone.
Christopher was just 27 years old when he di.e.d in a horrific accident, leaving his mother, Brenda, to face an insurmountable sadness. Her world was cast in darkness after his d.e.a.t.h, and her health suffered.
Brenda had gone hundreds of miles to see her son’s burial after spending a year in a clinic. Bearing the weight of anguish that no words can explain, she exited the metro station in the city where Chris had lived, d.i.e.d, and was buried.
Brenda was about to leave the station when she noticed a familiar face in the crowd: Harper, her widowed daughter-in-law. Brenda had intended to meet Harper after visiting the ᴄᴇᴍᴇᴛᴇʀʏ, so she dashed after the young woman to surprise her.
“Harper! Harper? “Wait a second!” She patted the woman’s shoulder from behind.
“I’m not Harper. You’ve got me wrong, lady!” Brenda’s hand was batted away with arrogance by the young woman, who raced away.
That’s strange! Brenda thought. My eyes couldn’t be deceiving me. She has the same eyes…same hair color…and voice. She is Harper!
But the lady had vanished into the crowd. Brenda got a cab outside the station and went to the ᴄᴇᴍᴇᴛᴇʀʏ. Throughout the voyage, she was disturbed by the experience and couldn’t figure out why Harper was acting so strangely.
“Ma’am…we’ve arrived,” the taxi announced as he pulled over at the ᴄᴇᴍᴇᴛᴇʀʏ entrance, startling Brenda out of her reverie.
The silence was unsettling as Brenda examined the row of tombs for Christopher’s final resting place. When she discovered it, she was overcome with emotion. She burst into tears as she brushed her shaking fingertips on Christopher’s tombstone.
Brenda felt a jolt of disbelief as her attention wandered to the nearby grave.
The epitaph on the monument terrified her.
In Loving Memory of Harper. S.
January 8, 1995 – December 3, 2020
Forever cherished, Forever missed.
Rest in peace.
“Oh my God…Harper pass:ed away last week and nobody told me?” Brenda gasped, unable to believe her eyes.
A troubling question quickly arose in her mind: “If Harper is d.e.a.d, who was the girl on the subway?”
Brenda startled out of her reverie as she heard someone rake dry leaves. The cemetery’s groundskeeper was working nearby. Brenda approached him, asking if he could tell her about Harper’s burial.
The man lighted a cigarette and exhaled, sending a plume of smoke into the air. “It took place last week. It was strange… There weren’t any mourners, just the funeral service employees. They brought the coffin, buried it, erected a simple headstone, and left. It wasn’t even a proper funeral.”
“Did anybody visit her grave after that?” Brenda frowned.
“Not that I know of, Ma’am,” he replied. “I work here all day and live on the grounds. I keep watch over the cemetery all the time and haven’t seen anybody visit that woman’s grave.”
“Alright…thanks,” Brenda said and turned around. Nothing made sense to her.
Brenda went to meet Jake, her late son’s best friend and business partner, to try to solve the mystery surrounding her daughter-in-law’s d.e.a.t.h.
Jake was caught off guard when he noticed his best friend’s mother standing on his porch, beaming at him. He invited Brenda in, but she could feel his unease.
Brenda walked in and saw baggage in the living room, so she quickly asked Jake about his travel plans.
“I’m leaving this state, Mrs. Sutton. Been a rough year since Chris passed,” Jake said, a strange disappointment and worry etched on his face. “The company is bankrupt so I decided to move somewhere far away from all the mess I’ve been dealing with.”
“How can the company be bankrupt, Jake?” Brenda raised an eyebrow.
“What’s going on? I saw Harper’s tomb beside my son’s grave. Nobody even told me she pass:ed away! Tell me…what happened to my daughter-in-law? How did she d.i.e?”
“Mrs. Sutton, I… I didn’t want to disturb you. After Chris’s passing, you were so disturbed and heartbroken. When I learned you’d be spending a year in the hospital, I was afraid your condition might worsen if you found out about the company’s financial crisis and what Harper did,” Jake said, haunting Brenda further.
“What did Harper do, Jake?” Brenda asked. “I want to know everything.”
Jake took a deep breath. “Well, Harper inherited the company after Chris’s d.e.a.t.h, but she declined to manage it because she didn’t know anything about the business. So, by mutual agreement, I stepped in to manage the company because I was already Chris’s business partner.”
“Honestly, the business hit rock bottom after your son’s d.e.a.t.h. We were on the verge of declaring bankruptcy when Harper suggested finding investors and taking out loans to revive the company,” Jake explained.
“But…you said Harper declined any say in the business,” Brenda said, her suspicions raised.
“Yes, but we were all desperate to save the company. We agreed to Harper’s idea. But just a week ago, Harper withdrew the five million dollar loan money and fled. The police started looking for her.”
“Oh, my God! Harper stole the loan money?” Brenda gasped in surprise. It was very difficult to comprehend that her late son’s wife had sabotaged his hard work after his death.
“We never expected her to backstab us like this, but she paid the price for her betrayal,” Jake added. “The cops discovered a burned car that had crashed into a cliff near the woods. It was Harper’s car. She met with a tragic acci:dent and d.i.e.d immediately.”
“What? Oh my God…” Brenda exclaimed.
“The police recovered a woman’s completely burned body with Harper’s gold letter ‘H’ pendant. There were charred remains of hundred dollar bills. Everything else was incinerated…the case was closed as accidental d.e.a.t.h.”
“Jesus…Harper ruined everything,” Brenda said. “But wait…what about Christopher’s hard work? It doesn’t make sense that the company went bankrupt after he d.i.e.d.”
“I understand your frustration, Mrs. Sutton,” Jake said. “But circumstances spiraled out of control. Harper paid a heavy price for her actions, but her funeral was dignified. Many guests attended and everyone grieved her tragic d.e.a.t.h…despite the wicked thing she did to all of us.”
“Harper’s funeral??” Brenda became suspicious. The cemetery groundskeeper informed her that no one had attended Harper’s funeral. Brenda noticed something suspicious. Jake’s anxiousness and restlessness, along with his unexpected decision to leave the city, reinforced her worries.
“Uh, when is your flight, Jake?” Brenda asked.
“Early tomorrow morning…6 a.m.,” he said.
“Do you mind if I stay here for the night?” Brenda asked, a plan brewing in her mind. “I’m wary about renting a hotel room all alone for tonight in a strange city.”
Jake pondered for a bit before agreeing and leading Brenda to the guest room. Brenda turned off the lights but never slept. Instead, she nervously waited for Jake’s bedroom lights to turn off so she could look for a clue to assist her connect the dots.
Brenda went into the living area and rummaged through Jake’s bags after he fell asleep. Her hands trembled from a combination of worry and dread. What if Jake pretended to be asleep? What if he caught her prying? The implications tormented Brenda. But she was determined to uncover the truth.
Brenda’s search became her worst nightmare when she discovered two phony passports hidden in a secret compartment. One included a photo of her apparently ‘d.e.a.d’ daughter-in-law, Harper, but with a different name.
“Sarah? Oh, who are you trying to fool, Harper?” Brenda muttered.
“John?” Brenda’s face wrinkled with suspicion as she viewed Jake’s photograph in another passport under a different name. “What’s going on here? Are they involved in something deeper…something I can’t even imagine?”
She then discovered two plane tickets to London booked under false names. Brenda felt a strange sensation crawl up her gut.
Jake and his accomplice, Sarah, who was actually Harper, were up to something sinister. Something needed to be done.
She hastily put the suitcase back where it was and dashed to the pharmacy at the end of the lane. Minutes later, she returned to Jake’s residence with sleeping pills.
Brenda was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast when Jake rushed downstairs at 5 a.m.
“Good morning, Jake! Have breakfast before you leave for the trip!” Brenda smiled warmly. “Here’s your orange juice.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Sutton, that’s really kind of you.” Jake sipped from the glass Brenda gave him. “It tastes…uhm…nice….”
Jake fell asleep on the couch about twenty minutes later, exactly as Brenda had requested. Harper was unable to fly without a passport and an airline ticket, so Brenda had to wait for her to contact or text Jake.
“What’s taking her so long? It’s 5:30,” Brenda mumbled under her breath.
Jake’s phone rang, breaking the silence in the room. The caller’s name, “Sarah,” appeared on the screen. But Brenda never returned the call. Finally, an SMS notification occurred.
“How could you oversleep, idiot? Have you forgotten we’re flying to London today? I’m getting a taxi and coming to your house right now.”
“Come…I’m waiting for you…HARPER!”
Brenda grinned cruelly as she hid behind the main doors. Brenda looked through the peephole around 30 minutes later and saw a cab pull up outside. She instantly contacted the police.
Harper walked inside once the door cracked open.
Brenda couldn’t believe it when she saw her face. Her daughter-in-law was very much alive.
“Jake! Are you kidding me? Get up,” Harper barked at an unconscious Jake lying on the couch. That’s when a familiar voice spoke from behind, startling her.
“ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMEONE, HARPER?” Brenda said, striking a hard blow to Harper’s head with a vase.
Harper dropped to the floor and blacked out. Brenda hurried outside after hearing police sirens. She recounted the scenario to the cops and showed them the false passports and airline tickets. Jake and Harper were hospitalized and then taken to the police station for questioning.
Jake hesitated to confess to his crimes, but Harper came clean when she realized her sentence could be reduced if she admitted the truth.
“We bribed a morgue worker and stole a homeless woman’s body. We put the body, wearing my gold chain, in the driver’s seat of my car and set it alight…Then we rammed the car from behind, causing it to fall off the cliff to make it appear like an accident.”
“And what about the money you stole?” The detective stared Harper in the eye.
“The five million has been transferred to our new bank accounts…we thought everything was covered…the new passports, the bank accounts, the flight…Jake and I thought we’d get away with it. But…” Harper paused and broke down, burying her head in her cuffed hands.
