Chapter 4 - Marissa Voss
The police came at nine the next morning.
Daniel did exactly what he had promised.
He described Marissa striking Lily.
Then he described hitting Marissa.
The officer taking the statement, Detective Elena Ruiz from the Westchester County Police Department, did not reassure him.
“You understand these are separate acts?”
“Yes.”
“Her conduct does not legally erase yours.”
“I understand.”
Lily gave her statement with Maya present.
Owen spoke to a child-services worker later that afternoon.
By evening, Daniel’s house no longer felt like home.
Every room seemed to contain something he had missed.
Marissa’s coffee mug.
Her shoes by the mudroom.
A wedding seating chart pinned inside the study.
Six weeks until the ceremony.
Daniel tore it down.
Maya watched.
“You should call your lawyer.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He said not to contact Marissa.”
“Good.”
Daniel handed Maya a photocopy of Clara’s letter.
She read it twice.
“I’ve never heard the name Marissa Voss.”
“I searched it.”
“And?”
“Too many people.”
Maya sat beside him.
“Do you remember Clara ever mentioning fraud?”
“No.”
“Money missing?”
“No.”
“She was afraid of something.”
Daniel looked toward the letter.
“She was afraid enough to write this.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He almost ignored it.
Then answered.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Gavin Holt. I represent Marissa Vale.”
Daniel’s shoulders tightened.
“Then call my attorney.”
“I intend to. But I thought you deserved to know Marissa is considering charges.”
“She should speak to the police.”
“She has.”
Daniel said nothing.
Gavin continued.
“She also intends to retrieve her belongings from your residence.”
“That can be arranged through counsel.”
“Daniel, I’ve known Marissa a long time.”
There was something about the sentence that bothered him.
“How long?”
A pause.
“Professionally? Nearly twelve years.”
Daniel looked at Clara’s letter.
“Since she was Marissa Voss?”
Silence.
Then Gavin said, “I think our attorneys should handle this.”
The line went dead.
Daniel immediately wrote the name down.
Gavin Holt.
Maya saw his face.
“What?”
“He knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Her old name.”
Daniel called his attorney, Sarah Keane, then Detective Ruiz.
Ruiz asked him not to conduct his own investigation.
Daniel agreed.
He lasted three hours.
Not because he intended to interfere with the police, but because he needed to understand the woman he had invited into his children’s home.
He searched old nonprofit registrations.
Marissa Voss appeared in a 2008 filing.
FOUNDATION FOR TOMORROW.
Co-directors:
Clara Bennett.
Marissa Voss.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Clara’s maiden name.
He clicked through archived reports.
The foundation had funded after-school arts programs in Queens.
One year of enthusiastic fundraising.
A second year of shrinking donations.
Then dissolution.
A newspaper archive contained a tiny story from 2010.
CHARITY CLOSES AMID ACCOUNTING QUESTIONS.
No criminal charges.
No names accused.
But the article said approximately $86,000 could not initially be reconciled.
Daniel called Maya.
“Did Clara ever tell your family she ran a charity?”
“Of course. Mom donated.”
“Did she tell you money disappeared?”
“No.”
Daniel sent her the article.
Maya called back five minutes later.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“I remember something.”
“What?”
“When Clara came home for Christmas that year, Dad was furious.”
“About the charity?”
“I don’t know. They argued in the garage. I heard him say, ‘You cannot keep protecting someone who keeps stealing from you.’”
Daniel sat very still.
“Maya.”
“I was twenty-one. I thought it was a boyfriend or roommate.”
Daniel searched Marissa’s name alongside the charity.
A legal notice appeared.
VOSS v. BENNETT.
Civil complaint.
Withdrawn before trial.
The case file itself was not online.
Sarah Keane called him back.
“Stop searching for five minutes and listen.”
Daniel almost smiled despite everything.
“You know me too well.”
“I know panicked clients. Detective Ruiz contacted me. Marissa made a complaint about you.”
“I expected that.”
“Good. You may be interviewed again.”
“What about Lily?”
“They’re reviewing her allegation separately.”
Daniel looked at Clara’s letter.
“I found proof Marissa knew Clara.”
“Give it to Ruiz. Do not confront Marissa.”
“I won’t.”
“And Daniel?”
“Yes?”
“If there is evidence connected to Clara’s death, do not turn your house upside down looking for it.”
He looked toward the attic stairs.
“Why?”
“Because if this becomes a criminal investigation, you do not want to create questions about where evidence came from.”
Daniel understood.
After the call, he placed Clara’s letter inside a plastic sleeve without touching it further.
Then Lily entered the study.
“Dad?”
“What?”
“I remembered something about the picture.”
Daniel looked up.
“Owen didn’t find the gold frame inside the trunk.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was behind it.”
Daniel frowned.
“Behind the trunk?”
“Wedged between the trunk and the wall.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Daniel felt a slow chill.
That meant Clara might not have stored it with the rest.
She might have hidden it separately.
Lily continued.
“And there was something taped to the back before Owen brought it downstairs.”
Daniel stood.
“What?”
“A little paper pocket.”
“Where is it?”
Lily’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Owen said Marissa took it off.”
Daniel stared at her.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Before she dumped his backpack?”
Lily nodded.
“She saw the frame after breakfast.”
Daniel’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Did you see what was inside the pocket?”
“No.”
Lily swallowed.
“But Owen did.”
They found him in the family room building a wooden train track.
Daniel sat beside him.
“Buddy, remember the picture you found?”
Owen nodded.
“There was something on the back?”
“A tiny envelope.”
“What was inside?”
Owen pushed two train cars together.
“A key.”
Daniel’s voice became careful.
“What kind of key?”
“Small.”
“Did Marissa take it?”
Owen nodded.
“She told me it was trash.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
Marissa had not been terrified merely because he found the photograph.
She had been terrified because the photograph had led to something else.
May you like
And now she had the key.
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