After I came home early and found my husband in ou…

When I pulled up to the house, the first thing I noticed was Caroline’s car parked in my driveway. “That’s strange,” I thought, because she always parked in front of her own house directly across the street. I unlocked the front door with my key, and the silence hit me immediately.

The house was too quiet for two people to be inside. Jackson always listened to music when he worked, and if Caroline was visiting, I would expect to hear laughter or conversation. “Jackson?” I called out from the hallway.

No one answered. I walked into the kitchen thinking maybe they were in the backyard, but there was no sign of them. Their shoes were not in the hallway, which was customary when Caroline visited.

The breakfast dishes were still in the sink exactly how I had left them that morning. Then I heard something that made the blood freeze in my veins. It was the sound of running water in the master bathroom—our bathroom that I had shared with Jackson for eight years.