I had known Mark had been married before me.<\/p>\n
At least, I thought I knew.<\/p>\n
He told me Catherine Blake died in a car accident two years before we met.<\/p>\n
He rarely spoke about her.<\/p>\n
When I once asked why there were no photographs, he said grief made him destroy them.<\/p>\n
I believed him because grief invites privacy.<\/p>\n
Now Daniel sat across from me saying Catherine was alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Daniel did not argue.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark told me she died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she came to Northstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSix years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room tilted.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I financed the company?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did she want?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked toward his attorney.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked, \u201cBlackmail?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSort of.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does sort of mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said Mark owed her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHelping him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The detective leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cStart from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel said Mark met Catherine when he was twenty-four.<\/p>\n
They married quickly.<\/p>\n
Catherine worked in bookkeeping for a regional freight company.<\/p>\n
Mark had not yet founded Northstar.<\/p>\n
She knew accounting systems.<\/p>\n
Vendor structures.<\/p>\n
Commercial credit.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, she knew how small logistics companies hid ownership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey started Northstar together?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot officially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first entity wasn\u2019t called Northstar.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was called CB Freight Solutions.<\/p>\n
C.B.<\/p>\n
Catherine Blake.<\/p>\n
The shell company Raymond referenced.<\/p>\n
CB Freight Solutions bought distressed receivables, arranged subcontracting and moved money between small carriers.<\/p>\n
Mark handled sales.<\/p>\n
Catherine handled books.<\/p>\n
Then they separated.<\/p>\n
Mark created Northstar Logistics.<\/p>\n
According to Daniel, some early Northstar contracts originally belonged to CB Freight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Mark took them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know whether took is the right word.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt usually is when someone removes assets from one company and puts them in another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatherine claimed they had an agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat agreement?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would stay hidden as long as Mark paid her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy hidden?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cDivorce?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t die.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they divorce?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought so.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer was not good enough.<\/p>\n
The detective searched court records.<\/p>\n
No divorce decree existed in Maryland under Mark Carter and Catherine Blake.<\/p>\n
Neighboring states.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
National databases.<\/p>\n
Nothing obvious.<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked at me slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmily.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they never divorced\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need certified records before drawing conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped anyway.<\/p>\n
Mark and I had married eight years earlier.<\/p>\n
If his first marriage still legally existed, ours might never have been valid.<\/p>\n
The detective requested a full marriage-record search.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile we examined Raymond Price\u2019s ledger.<\/p>\n
Catherine\u2019s initials appeared repeatedly.<\/p>\n
C.B. \u2014 initial books.<\/p>\n
C.B. \u2014 first vendor structure.<\/p>\n
C.B. says M.C. cannot be trusted with unrestricted cash.<\/p>\n
Then a later entry.<\/p>\n
C.B. demands settlement or exposure.<\/p>\n
Amount: $750,000.<\/p>\n
The payment trail showed Mark paid her in installments through Northstar vendors.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing company money again,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Rebecca nodded.<\/p>\n
One payment occurred weeks after my trust financing entered Northstar.<\/p>\n
My money had indirectly paid the woman Mark told me was dead.<\/p>\n
I felt physically ill.<\/p>\n
The detective asked Daniel for Catherine\u2019s location.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLast contact?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the wire.\u201d<\/p>\n
James traced it.<\/p>\n
$300,000 to an entity called Westhaven Consulting.<\/p>\n
Registered in Delaware.<\/p>\n
Beneficial owner hidden.<\/p>\n
A subpoena request began.<\/p>\n
While that moved, certified marriage records returned faster than expected.<\/p>\n
Mark Carter married Catherine Elise Blake in Virginia eleven years before he married me.<\/p>\n
No divorce decree appeared in Virginia.<\/p>\n
No annulment.<\/p>\n
No recorded death certificate.<\/p>\n
Catherine Blake\u2019s Social Security number remained active.<\/p>\n
She had filed federal taxes last year.<\/p>\n
I sat in silence.<\/p>\n
Rebecca closed the file.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still need to confirm identity continuity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMeaning?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat the woman using the Social Security number is the same Catherine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think there might be two?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we prove before concluding.\u201d<\/p>\n
We found a driver\u2019s-license record.<\/p>\n
Catherine Elise Blake.<\/p>\n
Age fifty.<\/p>\n
Address in Wilmington, Delaware.<\/p>\n
Photograph.<\/p>\n
Dark hair streaked with gray.<\/p>\n
Sharp cheekbones.<\/p>\n
A face I had never seen.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Mark had lied about a dead first wife for our entire relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does this make me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cPotentially a party to a void marriage entered without knowledge of the existing marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLegally, that depends on jurisdictional facts. Emotionally, I\u2019m not going to tell you what word to use.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight years.<\/p>\n
Anniversaries.<\/p>\n
Tax filings.<\/p>\n
Mortgages.<\/p>\n
Hospital forms.<\/p>\n
Everywhere I had written spouse.<\/p>\n
Maybe I had never been one.<\/p>\n
Police contacted Catherine.<\/p>\n
She answered.<\/p>\n
At first she denied knowing Mark.<\/p>\n
Then the detective mentioned Raymond Price\u2019s ledger.<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Then she said, \u201cIs Mark dead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArrested?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
She refused to come to Maryland immediately.<\/p>\n
We arranged a recorded video interview with her attorney present.<\/p>\n
When Catherine appeared on screen, she looked directly at me before anyone spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words enraged me.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more than I can explain quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her attorney cautioned her.<\/p>\n
Catherine ignored him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark and I separated nine years before you married him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeparated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot divorced.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t sign.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have filed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threatened me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrison.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine explained that CB Freight Solutions had falsified invoices and moved funds through vendor accounts.<\/p>\n
She said Mark designed some of it.<\/p>\n
She executed much of it.<\/p>\n
When she tried leaving him, he threatened to turn records over to prosecutors and claim she acted alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI left the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd let him tell people you were dead?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know that at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you learn?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter he married you.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you did nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI contacted him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I was broke and scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t answer why you didn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him I would.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe paid me.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
No noble explanation.<\/p>\n
She sold silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know where the money came from?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLater?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know some came from Northstar after my trust rescued it?\u201d<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nearly ended the interview.<\/p>\n
Rebecca touched my wrist.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated that she was right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you help Mark set up?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine described CB Freight and three related shells.<\/p>\n
One accepted vendor payments.<\/p>\n
One purchased receivables.<\/p>\n
One held reserve cash beyond normal accounting.<\/p>\n
Mark learned how to move money through all three.<\/p>\n
She said he later adapted those methods inside Northstar.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you taught him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI taught him bookkeeping.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou helped him hide assets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you help plan anything involving me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer came quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know about me before we met?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Mark?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked whether Mark knew who I was before our supposed first meeting.<\/p>\n
We met at a charity dinner.<\/p>\n
He told me he had accepted a last-minute invitation from a client.<\/p>\n
Catherine\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat charity?\u201d<\/p>\n
I told her.<\/p>\n
The Bennett Children\u2019s Medical Fund.<\/p>\n
My father\u2019s foundation before Mom died.<\/p>\n
Catherine leaned back.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMark followed Thomas Bennett\u2019s companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestment targets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Northstar, Mark and Catherine studied family-owned companies with significant private capital.<\/p>\n
Mark believed relationships gave access to financing traditional lenders would not provide.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called it proximity capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas my father a target?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine answered carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis businesses were on Mark\u2019s list.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw your name in research files.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long before I met him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach turned.<\/p>\n
Mark had not wandered into my life.<\/p>\n
He had researched my family.<\/p>\n
Maybe researched me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did the file say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly public things at first. School. Foundation work. Your father\u2019s succession plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked toward her lawyer.<\/p>\n
He shook his head.<\/p>\n
She continued anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark later hired someone to gather more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHarold Venn?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know the name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of information?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you had inherited directly. Whether your father used trusts. Whether there were marital restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before our first date.<\/p>\n
Before the proposal.<\/p>\n
Before the supermarket.<\/p>\n
The financial questions had come first.<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked, \u201cCatherine, did Mark marry Emily for access to the Bennett trust?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t know what he felt.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer was more honest than certainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe talked about you before he met you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat Thomas Bennett had one daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hands clenched.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat daughters inherit.\u201d<\/p>\n
No one spoke.<\/p>\n
Catherine began crying.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She wiped her face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should have warned you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he loved you eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe changed after he met you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou accepted money to remain silent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much total?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout one point six million over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca asked whether Catherine retained records from CB Freight.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSafe deposit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you provide them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I receive immunity consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her attorney finally intervened.<\/p>\n
Any cooperation would require formal negotiation.<\/p>\n
The detective agreed to discuss terms with prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Before ending the call, I asked one more question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Mark tell me you died?\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine stared at the camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think because dead people can\u2019t return.\u201d<\/p>\n
The screen went black.<\/p>\n
I sat there for a long time.<\/p>\n
Then Rebecca\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
The forensic accountant.<\/p>\n
Westhaven Consulting\u2019s beneficial-owner records had been obtained.<\/p>\n
Catherine owned only ten percent.<\/p>\n
The remaining ninety percent belonged to someone else.<\/p>\n
Not Mark.<\/p>\n
Not Daniel.<\/p>\n
Not Evelyn.<\/p>\n
Owner: Harold Venn.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Venn was paying Catherine?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr receiving money through her company.\u201d<\/p>\n
The accountant traced recent transfers.<\/p>\n
Money from EVC.<\/p>\n
Money from Northstar vendors.<\/p>\n
Money from one of Mark\u2019s gambling-linked entities.<\/p>\n
All converged into Westhaven.<\/p>\n
Then a final transfer.<\/p>\n
Five million dollars.<\/p>\n
Sent three weeks earlier to an offshore account.<\/p>\n
Authorized by Harold Venn.<\/p>\n
Catherine had apparently been useful.<\/p>\n
But Venn controlled the exit.<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
Harold Venn\u2019s voice came through clearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow you understand why Thomas never trusted Mark.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not the important question.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou helped him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou helped him try to take my trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI helped myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFive million dollars?\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed softly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou found Westhaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo correct one assumption.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think Mark selected you because you were Thomas Bennett\u2019s daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe researched me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not how this began.\u201d<\/p>\n
My skin prickled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did it begin?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Catherine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk why she chose the Bennett Medical Fund charity event for Mark to attend.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatherine said Mark targeted my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what are you saying?\u201d<\/p>\n
Venn\u2019s voice lowered.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatherine gave him your name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
I stared at the dead phone.<\/p>\n
Catherine had just told me she regretted failing to warn me.<\/p>\n
Now Venn was claiming she had placed Mark in my path before we ever met.<\/p>\n
Either he was lying.<\/p>\n
Or Catherine had omitted the first betrayal.<\/p>\n
And if she had, then the woman I thought was merely Mark\u2019s hidden first wife might have been involved in the beginning of my marriage before it even existed.<\/p>\n
I had known Mark had been married before me. At least, I thought I knew. He told me Catherine Blake died in a car accident two years before we met. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27531,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27496\/revisions\/27531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}