Chapter 2
“Vanessa!”
I handed Lily to the detective without thinking and ran after my wife.
Vanessa disappeared through the kitchen.
A second later, I heard the back door slam.
I reached it just in time to see her sprinting barefoot across the wet grass.
She was still wearing the silk robe she had put on after our wedding night.
“Stop!”
She didn’t.
She reached the driveway behind the house where her car was parked.
I caught her before she could open the door.
She screamed when I grabbed her arm.
“Get away from me!”
“Why are you running from a detective?”
“Because you hit me!”
“That detective didn’t even know that happened.”
She froze.
For one second, neither of us moved.
Then the detective appeared behind me.
“Mrs. Carter, keep your hands where I can see them.”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“This is insane.”
The detective held Lily’s hand.
My daughter looked terrified.
I immediately let Vanessa go and walked to her.
“Daddy.”
“I’m here.”
I lifted her into my arms.
The detective looked at Vanessa.
“My name is Detective Marcus Reed. I’m with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“What do you want?”
“I’d prefer to discuss that inside.”
“I don’t.”
“That wasn’t really a request.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Not yet.”
Those two words changed everything.
We went back inside.
I sat Lily beside me on the couch.
She refused to let go of my shirt.
Vanessa stayed near the front door.
Detective Reed placed his folder on the coffee table.
“Mr. Carter, how much do you know about the accident that killed Emily Carter?”
I stared at him.
“She was driving home from visiting her sister.”
“Where?”
“Franklin.”
He nodded.
“What time did she leave?”
“Around eight.”
“And what time were you told she crashed?”
“A little after ten.”
“Did anyone tell you another vehicle may have been involved?”
“No.”
Vanessa slowly moved toward the kitchen.
Detective Reed noticed.
“Mrs. Carter, stay where you are.”
She stopped.
My heart started beating faster.
“What are you saying?”
Reed opened the folder.
He removed a photograph.
It showed Emily’s car.
The front was destroyed.
I had seen photographs before.
But this one was different.
The rear passenger side was crushed inward.
Black paint covered the damage.
Reed placed another picture beside it.
A broken piece of a taillight lay on the road.
“The original investigators believed your wife lost control after hitting debris.”
“That’s what I was told.”
“They were wrong.”
I looked at Vanessa.
She was white.
Reed continued.
“Three months ago, a retired evidence technician was reviewing improperly cataloged evidence from several old cases. This fragment was among it.”
He pointed to the plastic.
“We ran the part number.”
My mouth went dry.
“It belongs to a 2019 black Lexus RX.”
Vanessa shook her head immediately.
“There are thousands of those cars.”
Detective Reed looked directly at her.
“I didn’t say anything about you owning one.”
Silence.
Vanessa’s lips parted.
Then closed.
I remembered.
She had driven a black Lexus when we met.
She told me she sold it after an accident.
My skin went cold.
“What happened to your Lexus?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Daniel.”
“What happened to it?”
“I told you. Somebody hit me in a parking lot.”
“When?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Yes, you do.”
Detective Reed pulled out another page.
“June seventeenth, two years ago.”
My legs went numb.
Emily died June seventeenth.
I stared at Vanessa.
“You wrecked your car the night Emily died?”
“It wasn’t the same night.”
Reed slid the document toward me.
“It was brought to a private repair shop at seven thirty the next morning.”
I read the name.
Bowman Auto Restoration.
Rear quarter panel replacement.
Taillight assembly.
Full repaint.
Cash payment.
No insurance.
My hands began shaking.
“Why did you pay cash?”
Vanessa backed away.
“This proves nothing.”
“Why did you pay cash?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remember telling my daughter her dead mother gave you a necklace.”
Her eyes snapped toward Lily.
Lily hid against me.
“Don’t look at her.”
Vanessa started crying.
They weren’t soft tears.
They came fast.
Desperate.
“Daniel, please.”
“Tell me where you got the necklace.”
She shook her head.
“Please.”
Detective Reed interrupted.
“Mrs. Carter, do you want an attorney?”
Vanessa looked at him.
Then at me.
Then she suddenly reached for her purse on the entry table.
Reed moved immediately.
“Hands!”
Vanessa stopped.
“Phone,” she said. “I want my phone.”
“You can have it after I check something.”
“You can’t search my phone.”
“I didn’t say I was going to.”
He looked at me.
“Mr. Carter, when did you meet Vanessa?”
“About eighteen months ago.”
“Where?”
“A grief support group.”
Reed’s expression changed.
“Did she approach you?”
I thought back.
I had been sitting alone after a meeting.
Vanessa came over carrying two cups of coffee.
She said she had lost her older brother.
She understood grief.
She listened.
She remembered Lily’s birthday.
She brought casseroles.
She offered to babysit.
She slowly became part of our lives.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Yes. She approached me.”
Reed looked down.
“We checked the support group’s registration.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
My stomach twisted.
“She never lost a brother.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Reed pushed another document toward me.
“The brother she claimed died in a motorcycle accident is alive. He lives in Tampa.”
I stood.
Lily grabbed my hand.
“Daddy?”
I sat down immediately.
“Sorry, baby.”
I looked at Vanessa.
“Why were you at that group?”
She didn’t answer.
“Why did you come looking for me?”
“I loved you.”
“You didn’t know me.”
“I knew enough.”
That sentence terrified me.
Reed leaned forward.
“How?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“I don’t have to answer.”
“No,” Reed said. “You don’t.”
He started gathering the papers.
Then Lily spoke.
“Mommy knew Vanessa.”
Every adult in the room turned.
I looked at my daughter.
“What did you say?”
Lily squeezed the stuffed rabbit she had carried downstairs.
“Mommy knew her.”
Vanessa’s whole body stiffened.
I knelt in front of Lily.
“Sweetheart, when did Mommy know Vanessa?”
Lily frowned.
Children remember things differently.
A color.
A sound.
A face through a window.
“I saw her.”
“Where?”
“At Mommy’s work.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“She’s confused.”
“Stop talking,” Reed said.
Lily looked at me.
“Mommy was mad.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it before Mommy went to heaven?”
She nodded.
“Did you hear them talking?”
Another nod.
“What did they say?”
Lily’s face changed.
She looked toward Vanessa.
Fear returned.
“Daddy, I don’t want to.”
I held her hands.
“You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to say.”
Reed agreed.
“That’s right, Lily.”
But Vanessa suddenly whispered, “She doesn’t remember.”
Lily heard her.
Her little jaw tightened.
“Yes, I do.”
Vanessa stared at her.
Lily began crying.
“You told Mommy to stay away from him.”
My heart stopped.
“Stay away from who?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa grabbed the door handle.
Detective Reed moved toward her.
“Don’t.”
“I need air.”
“Sit down.”
“You can’t keep me here.”
“You’re right. You can leave.”
She blinked.
Reed continued.
“But your vehicle is currently being held under a search warrant, your old repair records have been subpoenaed, and we have investigators on the way to speak with your former employer.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
“What former employer?”
Reed watched her carefully.
“Sterling Medical.”
I had never heard of it.
Vanessa did not move.
Reed had found something.
“What’s Sterling Medical?” I asked.
Vanessa whispered, “Nothing.”
Reed looked at me.
“Your wife worked there three years ago.”
“So?”
“Emily Carter worked there too.”
My knees almost gave out.
Emily had been an accountant for a medical equipment company.
She had hated discussing work.
She said it was boring.
Numbers.
Invoices.
Audits.
I never paid attention.
“You worked with Emily?”
Vanessa’s silence answered.
I felt physically sick.
“You knew my wife before she died.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Were you at the grief group because of me?”
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“Yes.”
Lily pressed herself against my side.
I barely felt it.
Everything I knew about the last eighteen months was collapsing.
The coffee dates.
Vanessa meeting Lily.
Our first kiss.
Her moving into the house.
Her accepting my proposal.
Our wedding yesterday.
None of it had been accidental.
“Why me?”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Reed waited.
Finally, she whispered, “Because Emily hid something.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“She hid something before she died.”
“What did she hide?”
Vanessa looked at Lily.
Then at me.
“Evidence.”
Detective Reed went completely still.
“What evidence?”
Vanessa began shaking her head.
“I can’t.”
“You can,” I said.
“No, Daniel. You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand!”
Lily started crying.
I immediately lowered my voice.
Vanessa looked toward the windows.
As if someone might be watching.
Then she whispered, “Emily found out what they were doing at Sterling.”
“Who?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Who, Vanessa?”
She stepped closer.
For the first time that morning, her fear looked real.
Not fear of police.
Not fear of me.
Fear of someone else.
“She copied files.”
“What files?”
“Payments. Patient names. Fake invoices. I don’t know everything.”
“You worked there.”
“I was an executive assistant.”
“To who?”
Vanessa looked at Detective Reed.
“You can protect me?”
“Depends what you tell me.”
She laughed bitterly.
“No. It doesn’t.”
Her phone suddenly began ringing inside her purse.
Everyone looked at it.
The sound seemed painfully loud.
Reed picked up the purse.
The screen was visible through the open top.
Vanessa saw the caller.
All color disappeared from her face.
“Don’t answer that.”
Reed looked at the screen.
“Who is Richard?”
Vanessa backed into the wall.
“No.”
“Richard who?”
“Don’t answer.”
“Who is he?”
She stared at me.
May you like
Then she whispered words that would change my life again.
“Emily’s real killer.”
