Allie asked, her voice filled with the same bewilderment they all felt. “Forgive him? Forget? Try to keep up appearances for the children?”
Megan stood up and looked at her new, unfortunate friends with resolve.
“We press charges. We take him to court. Let him answer for his crimes. We can’t let him destroy any more lives.”
The atmosphere in the lawyer’s office on Central Avenue was tense. The paralegal stared at their documents, exchanged confused glances with her colleagues, and asked them to repeat the details several times. She’d never seen a case like this. Three wives of the same man, all asking to verify the legality of their marriages.
The lawyer, Peter Evans, a man nearing retirement with a neat gray beard, examined the marriage certificates under a magnifying glass. The documents looked authentic. The seals, signatures, and paper stock all seemed correct. But the dates made it impossible. A person can’t get married three times without getting divorced.
“I’ll need to make some inquiries with the County Clerk’s office,” the lawyer said, setting the papers aside. “If your suspicions are correct, we’re dealing with a serious crime. Forgery, fraud, bigamy—these are felonies.”
The women waited in the reception area, lost in their own thoughts. Megan fiddled with a silver bracelet her grandmother had given her. Susan flipped through a magazine without reading a word. Allie stared out the window at the autumn cityscape. They were now bound not only by a shared disaster but by a common goal: justice.
An hour later, the lawyer called them back into his office. His face was grim. A stack of faxes and printouts lay on his desk.
“Your suspicions were confirmed. None of your marriages were ever legally registered. These documents are all sophisticated forgeries.”
It turned out Mike had used fake divorce decrees, fraudulent death certificates of non-existent previous spouses, and even counterfeit IDs to stage the ceremonies. His scheme was meticulously planned. He knew which officiants were less scrupulous and which seals were easiest to replicate. The lawyer drafted a formal statement declaring the marriages void and advised the women to go to the police immediately.
“This isn’t a domestic dispute; it’s a criminal conspiracy. Your ‘husband’ is a professional con artist who likely has other victims.”
At the police station, they were met with skepticism. The desk sergeant yawned as he listened to their story, clearly dismissing it as a messy love triangle. But when the women presented the lawyer’s statement and the forged documents, his attitude changed.
Detective Anna Ramirez was a sharp, no-nonsense woman with observant eyes. She interviewed each of the victims thoroughly, took their statements, and collected the documents as evidence.
“This is going to be a high-profile case. We’ll execute search warrants at all addresses associated with the suspect,” the detective explained. “We need to find all the forged documents, trace the money, and see if there are any other victims. Prepare yourselves for a long process.”
The search of Megan’s apartment yielded nothing. Mike was too careful to keep incriminating evidence there. But at Allie’s house, investigators hit the jackpot. A hidden safe contained three complete sets of false identities, counterfeit stamps, and blank certificate forms. The financial fraud was staggering. Mike had taken out loans in all three of their names without their knowledge. He used the money to maintain his three households, buy property, and support his story of a successful career. The total debt exceeded $200,000. His employment records showed him working for three different companies simultaneously. The pay stubs were fake but looked convincing. He’d even had fake awards and commendations printed from non-existent companies. The most shocking discovery was a fourth passport under a different name, with a different photo. Investigators suspected there might be yet another family.
Mike’s arrest was uneventful. They found him in a rental apartment on the outskirts of the city where he’d been hiding since the confrontation at the hospital. As he was being handcuffed, he almost looked relieved. The weight of his years-long deception was finally lifted.
During his interrogation, Mike’s behavior was erratic…
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