The Perfect Husband

The next morning, before the clock could strike 8:30 am, Elena was parked at the end of the street where she could watch the house to see who would leave home first.

The blonde hair woman was the first to get into a blue Toyota Prius along with her two boys. Elena followed her around town as she carried out a few errands.

First stopping at the bank, then they went to the hair salon.

While sitting in the car, Elena thought that bringing two boys to a hair salon couldn’t be fun for the kids or the women in their who were trying to get a little time to themselves.

Finally, after waiting for what seemed like forever, the woman came out with a new hair style and once more Elena was driving behind her.

The next stop was at a play park, and as much as Elena wanted to keep her distance, she couldn’t help but walk by to get a closer look at the two boys who were playing in the sand pit.

The one who looked like Malik, had the same dirty blonde hair and bright intelligent grey eyes.

The younger boy looked more like mother but with brown hair.

She looked back and stared at them for a while, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

She wondered how long Malik and the woman had been together.

The eldest boy looked to be at least 8 years old, while the other seemed to be around 5.

Elena could feel tears pricking her eyes the more she thought about it.

Her husband had an entire family, she knew nothing of them, and Malik gave no sigh that he did either.

Elena shook her head, thinking that that was the reason why she should always trust her mind. She had always thought something fishy was going on, with how often Mailk would go away on business but now she knew why.

‘’That fucker,’’ Elena said under her breath.

She made her way to her car then paused.

‘’Who the fuck did I bury then?’’ She asked herself.

She was sure Malik was the only child, he always said he wished he had a sibling to play with while growing up and his parents never spoke about them having another son or anything.

As far as she knew, just like her, Malik had no other relative other than his parents. So, she could say that it was a cousin.

But it just didn’t make sense, the person had the same exact tattoo and birthmark.

Elena thought against leaving and stayed at the park until play time was over.

And again, she was driving behind this woman who stopped to get ice cream and pick up some dry cleaning.

While outside the house, Elena dialed Malik’s number just to see what would happen, but it was still no longer in service.

Elena was back in Chicago the next morning, arguing to speak with the appropriate personnel so she could file a report.

‘’I’m telling you; this is important, and you can’t deny any member of the public this right. I am a news reporter and I know the law.’’

‘’What is the problem here?’’ Harrison asked, coming up to Elena and his colleague.

“I wanted to have a word with you, but this woman was denying me my rights.’’

‘’Maggie, why would you do that?’’

‘’You told me to-‘’ the woman stopped short and Elena didn’t miss Harrison shaking her head, as if telling her to not say anymore.

‘’I’ll take it from here Maggie.’’

Elena wasted no time in telling Harrison and his partner what she discovered in Georgia.

At first they didn’t seem to believe her, until Elena pulled out her phone and showed them the pictures she took.

She even typed in the name Joshua Swan and Malik’s picture came up, the only difference was that it said he was a financial advisor in Georgia and not a broker.

Harrison wiped his hand down his face, he was speechless.

‘’Well, aren’t you going to do something?’’ Elena asked.

Harrison glanced at his partner. ‘’Well, to be honest. We can’t make an arrest; this is out of our jurisdiction. And we can’t be so sure that this really is your husband, even if it is, he did nothing wrong.’’

“What!? But he faked his death, isn’t that enough? And he’s now living under a different identity, shouldn’t that spark some kind of suspicion and a cause for an investigation?” Elena asked.

Harrison shook her head. “Listen Mrs. Franco, just please leave this to the police.”

“It’s Elena Perry, and now after seeing that Malik is alive, I’m glad I never took on his name or had a joint account like he asked me to. I’m sure that I would have been broke by now.” Elena got up.

‘’I knew I couldn’t trust you; you people here are just useless and lousy at your jobs. But just now that this will be in the news.’’

She then walked away from him; she didn’t care what he had to say now.

Elena thought that she should really take matters into her own hands, after seeing that the police were of no help, well she only went to Harrison but after the encounter, she doubted anyone would do shit to help her.

The next place Elena went to was her in laws’ place, she rang the doorbell and AJ swung the door open.

‘’Oh, hi. I never expected to see you.’’

Elena made a face. ‘’Why wouldn’t expect me?’’

‘’Well…’’

Elena brushed her to the side and found Robert on the sofa, trying to read the paper.

“Oh, Ellie you are back. How was your trip?” Her father-in-law smiled, then he started to cough uncontrollably.

Elena went to the kitchen for some water, and he gladly took it.

‘’Robert, I need to ask you something.’’ Elena said while taking a seat.

‘’Of course.’’

‘’Did Malik have a twin brother?’’

Robert slowly turned his head in her direction, “a twin?” The elderly man asked.

Elena nodded.

“Why would you ask such a thing?”

“Well, I was in Georgia and while there, I saw someone that looked just like Malik. From the hair down to his voice.” Elena explained.

Robert had a look on his face. “That shouldn’t be of any concern to you.” He told her.

The tone of his voice alone told Elena that he was hiding something, she only wished she could speak with Gloria, maybe she could get more out of the older woman.

‘’Well then, if you won’t tell me, then I just have to find out on my own.’’

On her way out, Elena could hear Robert telling AJ to never let her in the house again. But the most shocking part was her calling Robert darling and a kissing sound.

After getting home, Elena changed out the clothes in her luggage for new ones and made sure to pack for a longer stay.

The next morning, she was back in Georgia and checking into the same hotel and after getting her things in the room, she went straight to the house that was a yellow version of her own.

Elena had sent a message to Belinda telling her of her plans, and to inform the police if she didn’t make it back home.

Elena straightened her red dress then knocked on the front door.

She had been sitting in her car and building her nerves up for twenty minutes now and finally got enough courage to approach the house.

She was scared out of her mind and didn’t know how the other woman would react to her.

When the woman opened the door, Elena plastered a smile on her face.

“Hello, my name is Donna, and I just moved here. I live up the street.” Elena lied.

The woman stood there for a while then some sort of recognition crossed her face, “oh yeah, I heard about the new family that moved here. Truth been told I was not expecting an older woman because that’s what was going around,’’ the woman said.

Elena gave a small laugh, wondering if anyone really moved here, what they really look like and who they were.