Chapter 3
Detective Reed didn’t touch the phone.
He let it ring.
Vanessa stared at the purse like something inside it might explode.
The call ended.
Five seconds later, a message appeared on the screen.
I couldn’t read it from where I stood.
Reed could.
His face hardened.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Reed finally read it aloud.
“You had one job. Call me now.”
I looked at Vanessa.
“One job?”
She sank onto the bottom stair.
“I can explain.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I didn’t kill Emily.”
“Then why do you have her necklace?”
Vanessa stared at the floor.
“Because I was there.”
My chest tightened.
Lily was still beside me.
I didn’t want her hearing more.
I carried her upstairs and called my mother.
“Dad?” she answered sleepily.
“Mom, I need you.”
Something in my voice made her stop asking questions.
“I’m coming.”
Twenty minutes later, my mother arrived.
She hugged Lily.
Then looked at Vanessa.
“What happened?”
“Take Lily to your house.”
“Daniel—”
“Please.”
My mother nodded.
Lily clung to me.
“You’re coming too?”
“Later.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She glanced toward Vanessa.
“I don’t want her there.”
“She won’t be.”
Vanessa flinched.
I kissed Lily’s forehead.
My mother carried her outside.
I watched until their car disappeared.
Then I closed the door.
“Now talk.”
Vanessa sat on the couch.
Detective Reed turned on a small recorder.
“Do I have permission to record this conversation?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Say it.”
“Yes.”
He placed it on the table.
“Start with Emily.”
Vanessa inhaled.
“I met Emily at Sterling Medical almost four years ago.”
I stayed standing.
If I sat, I felt like I might break something.
“She was in accounting. I worked for the CEO, Richard Sterling.”
“Richard Sterling?” I asked.
Even I knew the name.
Sterling Medical supplied hospital equipment across three states.
Richard Sterling appeared in local business magazines.
Charity events.
Hospital donations.
A smiling billionaire in tailored suits.
Vanessa nodded.
“Emily discovered unusual invoices.”
“What kind?”
“Equipment that hospitals never ordered. Payments to consulting companies that didn’t exist. Refunds sent to private accounts.”
“Fraud,” Reed said.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. Millions.”
“Why wasn’t it reported?”
“She tried.”
Vanessa rubbed her hands together.
“She brought it to the finance director. Two days later, he quit.”
“Name?”
“Thomas Bell.”
Reed wrote it down.
“Then?”
“Emily started getting scared. She told me somebody had been inside her office.”
I remembered.
Emily once came home and asked whether I had moved papers from her briefcase.
I said no.
She checked all the windows that night.
I thought she was stressed.
The guilt hit hard.
“She asked me questions about Richard’s schedule,” Vanessa said.
“Why you?”
“Because I knew where he went. Who he met. Which documents he asked me to destroy.”
“Destroy?”
Vanessa nodded.
“I knew something was wrong.”
“But you kept working for him.”
“I needed the money.”
I laughed without humor.
“That excuse must help you sleep.”
She looked at me.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
Reed cut in.
“Keep going.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Emily copied documents onto a flash drive. She said if anything happened to her, she had backups.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You married me because you don’t know.”
Her eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
I felt like I’d been punched.
Not because I hadn’t already suspected it.
Because hearing it made the lie complete.
“Our entire marriage is because of a flash drive?”
“No.”
“No?”
“I came close to you because of it.”
“That’s better?”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“But I fell in love with you.”
I turned away.
“You don’t know what love is.”
“I know what I feel.”
“You terrorized my daughter.”
Vanessa cried.
“I was jealous.”
I spun back.
“Of a five-year-old?”
“Of Emily!”
The answer exploded from her.
The room went silent.
Vanessa pressed both hands over her face.
“I hated that she was everywhere.”
“She is Lily’s mother.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
I stepped closer.
“You threw away her picture. You told my daughter to forget her. You hurt a child because you were competing with a dead woman.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry means nothing.”
Reed brought us back.
“The night of the crash.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I had gone to Richard’s house earlier.”
“Why?”
“He knew Emily had copies.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
I stared at her.
Vanessa’s eyes filled with shame.
“You told him?”
“He asked why Emily was questioning me. I panicked.”
“And because you panicked, my wife died?”
“I didn’t know he would hurt her.”
“Keep talking.”
Vanessa’s tears fell faster.
“Richard told me Emily had stolen confidential company information and could send everyone to prison. He said I could lose everything too.”
“What did he ask you to do?”
“Follow her.”
My blood turned cold.
“From where?”
“Her sister’s house.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“I waited outside.”
“Emily left at eight.”
“Yes.”
“You followed her.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Richard was behind us.”
I gripped the back of a chair.
“He was there?”
“In another car.”
“Whose?”
“I don’t know. A company vehicle.”
“What happened?”
“Emily realized I was following her. She pulled into a gas station.”
I suddenly remembered a charge on our credit card.
Coffee.
Gas station outside Franklin.
Twenty-one dollars.
I had never thought about it.
“She confronted me,” Vanessa said.
“What did she say?”
“She asked why I was following her.”
“And?”
“I told her Richard wanted the files back.”
“Did she know you betrayed her?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“She was furious.”
Vanessa looked down.
“She called me pathetic.”
I almost smiled.
That sounded like Emily.
“She told me Richard was using me. She said people were going to get hurt if the fraud continued.”
“What people?”
“Patients.”
Detective Reed leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. She said some equipment was refurbished and sold as new.”
Reed exchanged a look with me.
Vanessa continued.
“Emily got back in her car. I called Richard and told him she wouldn’t cooperate.”
“What did he say?”
“He said to stay behind her.”
My jaw tightened.
“So you did.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“Richard passed me.”
Her voice shook.
“I saw his car get close to Emily’s.”
“How close?”
“Too close.”
Vanessa wrapped her arms around herself.
“Emily sped up. Richard followed.”
“You followed both of them.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“A curve was coming.”
I already knew the curve.
I had stood there six times after Emily died.
Flowers.
A wooden cross.
A place where asphalt seemed no different from any other asphalt, even though my entire life had ended there.
“Richard hit her car.”
I stopped breathing.
“Once?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Twice.”
My hands became fists.
“The second time, she went off the road.”
I stared at the wall.
I could see it.
Emily alone.
Terrified.
Trying to control the wheel.
“Did you stop?”
Vanessa cried harder.
“Yes.”
“Did Richard?”
“Yes.”
“And was Emily alive?”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
I crossed the room.
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
I had been told she died instantly.
“Was she conscious?”
Vanessa nodded.
I couldn’t speak.
Reed asked the question for me.
“What did Richard do?”
“He went to her car.”
“And?”
“He opened the driver’s door.”
“And?”
“She was bleeding. She kept asking for Daniel.”
The room blurred.
I turned away.
My wife’s final moments had been a lie.
Every comforting sentence the police had given me was gone.
She didn’t die instantly.
She knew what was happening.
She called my name.
“What did you do?” I whispered.
Vanessa sobbed.
“I stood there.”
“You stood there.”
“I was scared.”
“You had a phone.”
“I know.”
“You could have called 911.”
“I know.”
“You could have saved her.”
“I know!”
Vanessa broke down.
I didn’t care.
“What did Richard do?”
She took several breaths.
“Emily saw me.”
I looked at her.
“She reached for me.”
My stomach turned.
Vanessa touched the necklace.
“She grabbed my hand.”
“And?”
“She pulled the necklace from her neck.”
“Why?”
“I think she wanted me to give it to Lily.”
My throat closed.
Vanessa removed the silver heart.
She held it out.
I couldn’t touch it.
“She said something.”
“What?”
Vanessa cried.
“She said, ‘Don’t let him win.’”
“Then?”
“Richard pulled me away.”
“What happened to Emily?”
Vanessa’s face became empty.
“Richard took her phone.”
“And?”
“He pushed her back inside.”
“And?”
“He told me she was already dead.”
“But she wasn’t.”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I turned away.”
“WHAT DID HE DO?”
Reed stood.
“Daniel.”
I backed off.
Vanessa shook violently.
“When I looked again, she wasn’t moving.”
Silence filled the house.
I could hear the refrigerator.
A car passing outside.
My own breathing.
“What did you do after?”
“Richard told me to leave.”
“And the damage to your Lexus?”
“I backed into Emily’s car when I panicked.”
“That’s the paint transfer?”
“Yes.”
“He arranged the repair?”
“Yes.”
“And two years later you joined my grief group.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Richard sent you.”
“Yes.”
“What was your job?”
“To find the flash drive.”
I laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“You married me to search my house.”
“At first.”
“How many times did you search?”
“Daniel—”
“How many?”
“A lot.”
“And you never found it.”
“No.”
“What about the necklace?”
“I couldn’t throw it away.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You wore it at our wedding.”
She looked ashamed.
“I wanted to feel like I had survived her.”
That sentence made me hate her more than anything else she had said.
Reed’s phone rang.
He stepped away to answer.
I stared at Vanessa.
“You will never be near Lily again.”
“Daniel.”
“Never.”
“I love her.”
“No.”
“You hurt her.”
“I was angry.”
“You put your hands on my child.”
“I made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting her lunch.”
She flinched.
I pointed toward the door.
“Get out of my house.”
Detective Reed ended the call.
“Actually, she’s not going anywhere.”
Vanessa looked up.
“What?”
Reed put his phone away.
“A judge just signed an arrest warrant for Richard Sterling.”
Vanessa exhaled.
Then Reed turned to her.
“And one for you.”
Her face collapsed.
“For what?”
“Accessory after the fact. Evidence tampering. Obstruction. We’ll let the district attorney decide what else.”
Vanessa stood abruptly.
“No. I told you everything.”
“You admitted helping conceal a homicide.”
“I can testify.”
“That may help you later.”
She looked at me.
“Daniel, please.”
I didn’t move.
Reed handcuffed her.
As he escorted her toward the door, she twisted around.
“There’s something else.”
Reed stopped.
“What?”
Vanessa stared at me.
“Richard doesn’t believe the flash drive is in this house anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because last week he found out Emily gave it to someone before she died.”
My pulse jumped.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“But he does.”
Reed tightened his grip on her arm.
“Who does he think has it?”
Vanessa looked toward the stairs.
Toward Lily’s room.
May you like
Then she whispered,
“Your daughter.”
