Chapter 18 - Vanessa Tells the Truth
Vanessa’s proffer resumed under threat of losing her deal.
The prosecutor placed the ledger before her.
“Did you write those initials?”
Vanessa stared.
“Yes.”
“What did you believe the payment was for?”
She swallowed.
“The wall.”
“What about the wall?”
“To hide Laura.”
Michael sat behind the observation glass.
He had been permitted to watch but not participate.
Vanessa’s attorney whispered to her.
She continued.
“When I came back inside, Laura was alive.”
“At Cypress Point?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Grant hit her during the argument.”
“With what?”
“His hand. Then she fell against the unfinished fireplace base.”
“Was she conscious?”
“Barely.”
“What did you do?”
“I told him to call an ambulance.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
Vanessa began crying.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew I’d be arrested.”
The prosecutor waited.
“So you chose yourself.”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
“Grant put Laura in the utility van.”
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Did you accompany him?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“To another section of Cypress Point.”
“Was Laura alive when you arrived?”
“Yes.”
Michael stood suddenly.
Rachel touched his arm.
He remained.
The prosecutor continued.
“What did Grant do?”
“He told me to wait outside.”
“How long?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
“What happened when he returned?”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“He said it was finished.”
“Did you ask what that meant?”
“I knew.”
“Then what?”
“We moved her.”
“You helped?”
“Yes.”
“Into the excavation area?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see Laura breathing?”
“No.”
“Did you check?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to know.”
The prosecutor’s voice hardened.
“You had already decided not knowing would make you less guilty?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“What happened afterward?”
“Grant ordered the wall completed.”
“You approved the money.”
“Yes.”
“You later sent messages from Laura’s phone?”
“Yes.”
“You deleted a message to Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vanessa’s voice broke.
“Because it said too much.”
“What did it say?”
Vanessa looked toward the observation window even though she could not see Michael through the one-way glass.
“Laura recorded it before Grant took her phone.”
The recovered fragment had only shown the final sentence.
Vanessa remembered the rest.
She recited it.
“Sophie, Mom loves you. If anyone tells you I left because I stopped loving you, don’t believe them. Be brave for Dad. He misses things when he’s afraid, but eventually he looks.”
Michael shut his eyes.
Laura had known him completely.
His best qualities.
His worst.
His capacity to fail.
And, somehow, his capacity to return.
Vanessa continued confessing.
She had befriended Laura partly to access the Davenports.
At first revenge motivated her.
Then she genuinely grew close to Laura.
That complicated everything.
When Grant proposed using Laura’s suspicions to destabilize Michael and seize company assets, Vanessa agreed.
She seduced Michael after Laura vanished because it gave her access to the villa, Sophie, and company information.
“Did you love Michael?” the prosecutor asked.
Vanessa looked exhausted.
“I wanted him to love me.”
“That isn’t the question.”
“No.”
“Did you love Sophie?”
Vanessa began crying harder.
“I thought I did.”
“Did you?”
After a long silence:
“No. I loved how trusting me made me feel like I wasn’t the person I had become.”
Michael looked away.
That was the most honest thing Vanessa had said.
Her plea agreement was revised.
Prosecutors added charges based on her participation in Laura’s kidnapping and concealment.
She received no immunity regarding homicide-related liability.
The ultimate sentence would be determined later.
Grant went to trial.
The trial lasted seven weeks.
Michael testified for three days.
Grant’s attorney attacked him mercilessly.
“You signed the payment, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You ignored your wife’s allegations?”
“Yes.”
“You assaulted your housekeeper?”
“Yes.”
“You benefited when Laura disappeared?”
“No.”
“You began dating Vanessa Reed?”
“Yes.”
“You moved her into your home?”
“Yes.”
“You gave her access to your child?”
“Yes.”
“Would you agree your judgment regarding the women in your household was catastrophically poor?”
The prosecutor objected.
The judge sustained.
Michael answered anyway.
“Yes.”
The courtroom went silent.
Grant’s attorney stared.
Michael continued until the judge stopped him.
“I failed Laura. That does not mean Grant didn’t kill her.”
The jury eventually convicted Grant of second-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, multiple fraud counts, and obstruction-related offenses.
They rejected premeditated first-degree murder because the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt exactly when Grant formed the intent to kill Laura.
Michael initially felt cheated.
Then Julian reminded him:
“The verdict has to match what twelve people believe we proved, not what grief demands.”
Grant was taken into custody.
As deputies led him away, he looked at Michael.
For eleven years they had shared offices, flights, weddings, funerals, victories.
Grant smiled faintly.
“You still lost.”
Michael looked toward Sophie, sitting with Maya outside the courtroom doors.
Then he looked back.
“No.”
Grant’s smile vanished.
“You did.”
But one battle remained.
May you like
Davenport Coastal was nearly broken.
And Michael had to decide whether preserving his father’s company was worth preserving the Davenport way of doing business.
