Chapter 7 - What Veronica Carried
Police arrested Veronica the next morning.
Not for Olivia’s disappearance.
Not yet.
They arrested her on charges related to Ethan’s assault and evidence tampering after investigators discovered she had tried remotely deleting camera archives the night of the storm.
Nathan watched from Evelyn’s front window as news vans gathered outside.
Ethan sat at the kitchen table coloring.
“Is Veronica going to jail?”
Nathan chose his words carefully.
“She’s going to court.”
“Because she hit me?”
“Partly.”
Ethan kept coloring.
“What about you?”
Nathan froze.
“What about me?”
“You hit her.”
Evelyn looked at her son.
Nathan sat beside Ethan.
“I may have to go to court too.”
“Even though she was mean?”
“Yes.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone doing something wrong doesn’t give me permission to do something wrong.”
The boy thought about it.
“Are you sorry?”
“Yes.”
“For hitting her or because the camera saw?”
Nathan’s throat tightened.
“For hitting her.”
Ethan nodded.
“Okay.”
Not forgiveness.
Not judgment.
Just acceptance of an answer.
Nathan realized how much more demanding honesty was than authority.
At noon Rebecca called.
“Veronica wants to speak.”
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She says she’ll discuss Olivia only if you come.”
Rebecca paused.
“You do not owe her that.”
“I know.”
He went anyway.
The meeting took place at Veronica’s attorney’s office.
She wore plain clothes.
No jewelry.
No perfect makeup.
Nathan sat across from her.
For two years he had believed Veronica rescued him from the wreckage of his marriage.
Now he knew she had helped create the wreckage.
She looked at him.
“How is Ethan?”
“Don’t.”
Her eyes lowered.
“I lost control.”
“You broke his umbrella.”
“He wouldn’t give me the satchel.”
“You knew the card was inside.”
“Yes.”
Nathan’s hands tightened.
“You married me knowing Olivia gave it to him?”
“I suspected.”
“You searched his things.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Months.”
“Did you ever hurt him before?”
“No.”
Nathan watched her.
“Think very carefully.”
Veronica’s eyes filled.
“I grabbed him once when he tried to leave the house.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
Nathan believed nothing without evidence now.
“Tell me what happened to Olivia.”
Veronica looked toward her lawyer.
He nodded.
“I can’t give a full statement without prosecutors.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because there’s something you need to understand.”
Nathan laughed once.
“No. That sentence has destroyed enough of my life.”
Veronica flinched.
“She came to Aldercrest that night because she found the original land covenant.”
“In Locker 417?”
“Behind it.”
“The server.”
“Yes.”
“What was on it?”
“Payments. Charles’s messages. Mine.”
“You were stealing.”
“I was taking fees.”
“You hid them through Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“Six million dollars.”
“Eventually.”
Nathan stared.
“You planned to become rich by selling Ethan’s family land.”
“I was already married to you by then.”
“No. You planned it before our divorce.”
She said nothing.
“Did you fabricate the hotel photograph?”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked away.
“Who was the man?”
“An actor.”
His jaw clenched.
“Did Olivia know?”
“She proved it.”
“How?”
“The original source image.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“She tried to show me.”
“Yes.”
“And you kept telling me she was unstable.”
Veronica whispered, “Yes.”
Nathan leaned forward.
“What happened in the stairwell?”
Veronica’s breathing changed.
“Charles grabbed her laptop.”
“And?”
“She hit him.”
“Olivia?”
“Yes.”
Nathan almost smiled despite everything.
That sounded like Olivia.
Veronica continued.
“He shoved her.”
Nathan went still.
“How hard?”
“Hard enough.”
“Did she fall?”
“Yes.”
“Down the stairs?”
“Six steps.”
Nathan’s face emptied.
“Was she alive?”
Veronica looked away.
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
Nathan gripped the edge of the table.
“Then why didn’t you call an ambulance?”
“Charles said she would expose everything.”
Nathan stared.
“So you let her die?”
“No.”
“She was alive.”
“She was unconscious.”
“Call. An. Ambulance.”
Veronica began crying.
“I wanted to.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
The answer hung between them.
“What happened next?”
“Charles checked her pulse.”
“And?”
“He said she was breathing.”
Nathan stood.
“You carried a breathing woman into a car?”
Veronica’s lawyer said, “Nathan—”
“Where did you take her?”
Veronica covered her face.
“Lake Briar.”
Nathan froze.
The Whitmore family owned an old hunting property near Lake Briar, forty miles north.
“What happened there?”
“Charles said he had a doctor coming.”
“Who?”
“I never saw anyone.”
“Where is Olivia?”
Veronica looked up.
“I don’t know.”
Nathan laughed in disbelief.
“I swear.”
“You carried her there.”
“Yes.”
“And left?”
“Charles ordered me to move her car to the station.”
Nathan’s voice trembled.
“When you returned?”
“She was gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Charles said she woke up and ran.”
“Did you believe him?”
“No.”
“Then what did you think?”
Veronica’s tears fell.
“That he killed her.”
Nathan stepped away.
The room tilted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because by then I was guilty too.”
“Of fraud?”
“Of everything.”
Nathan looked at her.
“And then you married me.”
Veronica’s face collapsed.
“I loved you.”
He stared at her as though she had spoken another language.
“You helped destroy my marriage.”
“I hated Olivia.”
“Why?”
“Because you still loved her.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She wiped her face.
“You divorced her and still compared everyone to her. You talked about her when you were angry. When you were drunk. When you were scared about Ethan.”
Nathan said nothing.
Veronica continued.
“Charles told me once Olivia was gone, eventually you’d let her go.”
“And did I?”
“No.”
For the first time, Veronica seemed to understand the answer herself.
Nathan walked toward the door.
“Nathan.”
He stopped.
“There’s something at Lake Briar.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Olivia hid something in the old hunting lodge before the night she disappeared.”
“How do you know?”
“She told Charles during the argument.”
“What did she say?”
Veronica closed her eyes.
“‘If anything happens to me, Nathan will find the blue room.’”
Nathan stared.
The Lake Briar hunting lodge had no blue room.
At least not anymore.
May you like
But when Nathan was a child, there had been one.
Before a renovation sealed the entire east wing.
