“Margaret Goodman checked the contents of the travel bags she was planning on taking with her on a trip to the ocean Coast. The woman knew that if she were to go to Santa Monica alone, her luggage would be half the size. However, at that moment, Mrs. Goodman was only thinking of how to please her grandchildren, Liam and Nancy. The elderly woman felt extremely sorry for the children ever since their parents died in a car crash.
“Grandma, can I swim on a pool float?” asked Liam, who wanted to see the ocean more than anything else in the world.
“Of course, dear. You can swim or you can relax and sunbathe under the gentle California sun,” Mrs. Goodman answered with a smile. At the same time, the elderly woman furtively wiped away a tear as she looked at the wedding photograph hanging on the wall. It pictured her late daughter and son-in-law. If Darcy and Albert were around right now, they would certainly be happy for Liam and Nancy,” Mrs. Goodman whispered.
“Painful memories of the events that happened five years ago were still fresh in the woman’s mind. On that fateful day, Darcy and Albert left the kids with Mrs. Goodman and went out of town on a camping trip. Unfortunately, they were driving home after dark, and according to the police report, Albert was going over the speed limit, which was most likely what caused the accident.
Having lost control of the car, the man rammed into the guardrails and drove off the bridge and into the river. The current there was so strong that they never managed to find the bodies of the couple. Moreover, experienced forensic experts suggested that they could have been carried several hundred miles away from the crash site. But be that as it may, Mrs. Goodman had long resigned herself to the fact that her daughter and son-in-law were dead.
“Realizing that she couldn’t change the past, the woman decided to move on and devote her life to raising her beloved grandchildren. Thus, wishing to take her grandkids on a vacation by the ocean, Mrs. Goodman had been saving up money for several months. Having finally saved up the necessary amount, Margaret Goodman took Nancy and Liam, and they hit the road.
“To make sure the journey was comfortable and not too tiring for the kids, the woman booked them a flight. Experiencing pleasant excitement, Liam and Nancy kept looking out the window, hoping to see the coveted ocean as soon as possible. Mrs. Goodman smiled knowingly and closed her eyes as she tried to sleep.
“The plane finally started to descend, and the cabin immediately got filled with excited exclamations of the passengers. Needless to say, Mrs. Goodman’s grandchildren were overjoyed and couldn’t sit still even for a second from all the excitement. But when Liam and Nancy saw the ocean with their own eyes, their grandmother had to work especially hard to keep them in place.
“‘Hold on, kids. Don’t even think about going anywhere near the water without life jackets,’ said Mrs. Goodman, laughing.
“The gentle California sun and the light, barely perceptible smell of the salty water involuntarily stirred the woman’s blood and evoked pleasant emotions. The last time Mrs. Goodman was in California was back when she was young and had just graduated from university, her whole life ahead of her. Ever since then, the woman could only dream of the warm coast of Santa Monica. And now, Mrs. Goodman finally found herself back in this truly heavenly place, which seemed to have been created for relaxation and positive emotions.
“Spending their day on the beach, the woman ensured that the kids didn’t go far into the water and didn’t spend too much time in the sun. One day, as Mrs. Goodman was peacefully reading a magazine on a sunbed, she was surprised to notice that Liam was standing nearby. The boy looked confused and didn’t seem to know where to start his story.
“‘What happened, honey? Are you tired of swimming?’ the woman asked sympathetically.
“‘Grandma, it’s just that… the thing is, I… I saw Mom and Dad on the beach. They were standing in front of the ice cream booth, holding hands,’ Liam answered with a sniff.
“Having heard her grandson’s words, Mrs. Goodman turned visibly pale and then, pulling herself together, said, ‘My boy, you must have made a mistake. Your parents died five years ago.’
“But Liam, who was usually calm and very down to earth, suddenly got very agitated and insisted that he really did see his parents a few minutes ago. Mrs. Goodman realized that she needed to sort things out herself, so she asked her grandson to point her to the strange couple.
“Of course, the woman was 100% sure that Liam was wrong. But when Mrs. Goodman saw Darcy with her own eyes, standing next to a man who looked very much like Albert, she didn’t know what to feel. The couple chatted merrily and couldn’t decide which ice cream to get. Fortunately, Darcy and her companion did not notice Mrs. Goodman, who was so shocked that she couldn’t seem to move.
“‘How is that possible? I’ve been in mourning for five years, thinking they were dead,’ the stunned woman whispered with tears in her eyes.
“At this moment, Darcy and her companion paid the vendor and headed towards the city, enjoying the delicious ice cream on their way. Since the situation was very confusing, Mrs. Goodman decided to follow her daughter and the man she was with, even though he looked a lot like Albert. The man did have a slightly different physique and darker hair color.
“Holding on tightly to her grandkids’ hands, the woman slowly followed the strange couple. ‘Grandma, what are we doing? Are we playing spies?’ Nancy asked timidly, who didn’t understand what was happening due to her young age.
“‘Yes, honey, it’s a game. You just need to stay really quiet and don’t give away your presence in any way,’ Mrs. Goodman answered with a wink.
“Fortunately, the walk wasn’t too long, and the strange couple soon disappeared behind the door of a luxurious mansion. ‘Wow, where did they get the money to buy such a house?’ thought Mrs. Goodman, realizing that there was no way she could figure it out on her own.
“Mrs. Goodman took out her phone and called the police. After that, Mrs. Goodman sat on a nearby bench with her grandkids and started waiting. To give credit when it’s due, the law enforcement officers arrived pretty quickly. After getting all the information from Mrs. Goodman, the police surrounded the house and tried to talk to the owners. However, instead of explaining the situation to the law enforcement officers, the owner of the house flat out refused to cooperate and had to be detained.
“It was only when they got to the police station and he was seated in front of the video camera that he started confessing. As it turned out, the owner of the mansion was the older brother of the late Albert Wilson, Henry Wilson. Henry often got into trouble with the law and, wandering around the country, never stayed in one place for long. He looked very much like his brother Albert, but the resemblance ended at that. He was Albert’s exact opposite in everything but looks—cunning and controlling. He was used to achieving his goals by any means necessary and caused many problems for his parents from an early age.
Meanwhile, the smart and honest Albert didn’t share his older brother’s outlook on life. After graduation, the brothers were forced to separate and go to different cities. This was partly because the man’s late father didn’t want the unbalanced Henry to have a detrimental effect on the smart and promising Albert. Thus, the very different brothers ended up in different parts of the country. Albert graduated from the university and got a job at a good firm, while Henry got sentenced to time in prison for an armed robbery of a jewelry store.
By the time Henry got out of prison, his father had died and his younger brother had a wife and two kids. Returning to his empty parental home, Henry realized that he was all alone in life. Of course, the man didn’t want to be the outsider living in the city where every resident knew that he was an ex-con. Therefore, Henry sold the house for nothing and went to visit his brother.
Needless to say, Albert was very surprised to see his mature brother, Henry, come to his home. However, Albert’s wife, Darcy, was impressed. Deep down, the woman knew that she didn’t actually love her husband as she always thought of him as weak and spineless. It’s hard to say why she even chose to get married to Albert in the first place.
It was most likely because he was smart and had a great entrepreneurial drive, which allowed him to make money out of thin air. Thus, Darcy had probably fallen in love with Henry at first sight. The woman immediately liked his strong shoulders and the fearless, confident look on his face.
Unfortunately, Albert didn’t even realize that his brother and his wife were attracted to each other and that it would be this fatal attraction that would later push them to commit a crime. Henry wanted to get everything that his more fortunate brother had. Meanwhile, Henry seemed to refuse to understand that everything Albert had achieved came to him through painstaking work.
“Are you ready to go all the way with me, Darcy?” Henry asked, hugging his brother’s wife.
“I’m ready to go to the end of the world with you,” Darcy answered in a languid voice. Of course, she had no way of knowing that Henry had already come up with a cunning plan for how to get rid of his brother and get their hands on his money.
First, he persuaded Darcy to quietly withdraw all the money from Albert’s accounts. Then, Henry invited his brother on a camping trip outside the city, which was supposed to be the last trip of his life.
The man’s plan turned out to be simple in its ingenuity. During their trip, Darcy gave Albert tea with a lethal dose of sleeping pills. Thus, Henry carried his brother’s unconscious body into the car and staged the accident. The experienced criminal knew that the current near the bridge was especially strong and that Albert’s body would probably never be found, nor would they find Darcy’s body, who would actually be relaxing on the warm beaches of Santa Monica.
Having quite an impressive amount of money, the criminal couple bought a house on the coast of California and started living in style. Unfortunately, Henry and Darcy didn’t take into account the fact that whatever is acquired by criminal means could never bring happiness in life.
Marveling at her daughter’s cruelty, Mrs. Goodman shed many tears before she could come to terms with what had happened. All this time, the woman prayed to God that Albert had found his place in heaven. It’s hard to say whether the words of an elderly woman would be heard by the Creator, but six months after the arrest of the criminal couple, there was a knock on the door of her house.
Wondering who it could be, Mrs. Goodman opened the door and saw a familiar figure on the threshold. “Albert, is that you? How is this possible? Didn’t you die?” she whispered in fear. The man only smiled in response and stepped inside. It really was Albert.
As it turned out, five years ago, the current did carry him several miles away from the site of Henry’s staged accident. However, Albert was fortunate. He was found on the shore by an old fisherman who lived in a shack near the forest. Unfortunately, either from a blow when falling from a bridge or from the overdose of the sleeping pills, the man lost his memory.
For five years, he lived in blissful ignorance, unable to remember his past. It was only when he saw the report on the arrest of Darcy and Henry on local TV that the unfortunate man remembered everything.
Of course, having returned home, Albert knew that he would never be able to forgive his ex-wife. However, Albert had a different purpose in life now. His kiddos, Liam and Nancy, whom he loved more than anything else in the world, and whom he was ready to take care of until the end of his days.
