Denise went home that evening. For the next two days she was nervously glued to the news in case there was a story of a body that was found in Lake Ontario off the Scarborough Bluffs. During these two days Denise called Robert’s office pretending to look for him. She also called her parents, her siblings, her colleagues, and her friends. She had a carefully worked out story that she gave them: “Robert has disappeared. He left for work very early Wednesday morning at around 6:00 a.m. and took a small bag with some extra clothes. There was a lot of work that he had to do before going to Ottawa to see a wealthy client who was head of a large corporation. If the meeting went into the evening, then he would stay overnight. He said that he most probably would be away a day or two and would call when he had time, as he would probably be in meetings all day. He said that he would be staying at the client’s corporate apartment. I’m very worried because I haven’t heard from him. I don’t know what to do. I’m going out of my mind,”
Denise was not really worried about Robert for she knew Robert’s fate. She was worried about becoming a murder suspect and that her act of violence would be discovered. After all, she was a well-known morning show anchor and her career could go off the road.
When, after two days, there was no news of Robert’s body being found, she called the police on the Friday morning and told them that her husband was missing. She said that he had not come home for the past two days.
Robert’s body was never found. The police later found that money from some of Robert’s clients was missing. Over $1,000,000. He had been embezzling from his clients and his law firm. They also found that Erica had been involved in this embezzlement scheme with him. They were going to take the money and head for Brazil where they would live in luxury in Rio de Janeiro under assumed names.
After this was found out, Erica confessed, hoping to get off with a lighter sentence. “It’s not my fault”, she would insist. “He had a hold on me. He controlled me. I was powerless against him because I loved him so much. So I did anything he asked of me. And now he’s deserted me.”
Needless to say, the media gobbled it all up. A handsome wealthy lawyer, two gorgeous professional women, a love triangle. These were the things the tabloid press cried out for. These were the stories that could make or break a reporter’s career.
The scenario sounded like something out of an old film noir, but it wasn’t. The money was never found. The police concluded that he had taken the money and run off alone or perhaps with one of the many unknown women he was rumored to have been involved with besides Erica. It seemed that Robert’s own theft of money and indiscretions with women made him, not Denise, the guilty party.
