Chapter 10 - Vanessa’s First Confession
Vanessa asked to meet in a church parking lot.
Rachel told Michael not to go alone.
So Priya sat in a car fifty yards away recording the time of the meeting while Michael waited beneath a stone archway.
Vanessa arrived in sunglasses.
Again.
Michael wondered if she wore them because she wanted to hide tears or because she wanted people to wonder whether she had been crying.
“You filed a false affidavit.”
Vanessa stopped.
“Hello to you too.”
“You said I ordered the transfers.”
“You used Sophie’s trust.”
“I admitted that.”
“And if Daniel goes down, he’ll make sure you go with him.”
Michael studied her.
“Why are you warning me?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Because you still think this is revenge.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Partly.”
The honesty surprised him.
She wrapped her coat tighter.
“When your sister died, you disappeared.”
“I was there.”
“Physically.”
Michael said nothing.
“You woke up at five, worked until eight, came home, checked on Sophie, then sat in your office until midnight. I became the person who took her to school, doctors, birthday parties. I became a mother without being allowed to call myself one.”
“You could have told me you were drowning.”
“I did.”
Michael remembered arguments.
He had called them complaints.
That realization hurt.
Vanessa continued.
“You told me we would talk after the quarter.”
He looked away.
“That doesn’t excuse the airport.”
“I know.”
“Doesn’t excuse Daniel.”
Her mouth tightened.
“No.”
“Or the money.”
“No.”
Michael folded his arms.
“So tell me.”
Vanessa was silent for several seconds.
“My mother was going to lose her house.”
“I would have helped.”
“You would have asked why she had refinanced three times.”
“I would have asked because that matters.”
“She was ashamed.”
“And you stole six hundred thousand dollars?”
“I asked Daniel for two hundred fifty.”
Michael stared.
“He said he could move it through a consulting account and repay it from bonuses.”
“And then?”
“Then Laura found it.”
Snow slid from the church roof behind them.
Vanessa’s voice became smaller.
“She gave me twenty-four hours to tell you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I was terrified.”
“Of losing me?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s laugh held no humor.
“So you kept sleeping with Daniel.”
Vanessa flinched.
He had not expected that to satisfy him.
It did not.
“When did the affair start?”
“Four months before Laura died.”
Michael absorbed it.
“Did Laura know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she threaten to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“And then she died.”
Vanessa looked at him sharply.
“I did not kill Laura.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“I’m thinking Daniel was at the hangar the night before her crash.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
There.
Fear.
Real fear.
Michael stepped closer.
“You knew.”
“I knew he went there.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed files.”
“What files?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Laura’s car there?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Answer.”
“Yes.”
Michael’s hands curled.
“Did you ever tell police?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because nothing connected it.”
“Laura was about to expose him.”
“Us.”
Michael stopped.
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“She was going to expose us.”
For the first time, Vanessa had said it plainly.
Not Daniel.
Us.
“Why are you telling me now?”
She wiped beneath one eye.
“Because Daniel scares me.”
“He didn’t before?”
“He did. I mistook it for strength.”
Michael nearly said something cruel.
Instead:
“What changed?”
“He knows you found the storage unit.”
Michael’s pulse jumped.
“How?”
“Your mother.”
“Helen told him?”
“No. Her attorney copied the board on a preservation notice. Daniel knows Laura kept records.”
Vanessa moved closer.
“Michael, stop treating him like an accountant who stole money.”
“What should I treat him like?”
“A man who has spent two years making sure every bad thing he did can be blamed on someone else.”
“You.”
“Me. You. Helen.”
Vanessa removed her sunglasses.
Her eyes were swollen.
“He has recordings of me admitting to the Blue Alder payments. Messages about the affair. He has your unauthorized trust loan.”
Michael stared.
“What does he have on Helen?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“And Laura?”
Silence.
Michael’s voice lowered.
“What did Laura have on him?”
Vanessa looked toward the church doors.
Then back.
“She said Daniel had been stealing before I ever asked him for money.”
“How long?”
“Years.”
“Where is the proof?”
“She had a red folder.”
Michael froze.
“Sophie heard you talking about it.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
Michael continued.
“You searched her backpack.”
“I thought Laura might have given Sophie something.”
“Two years ago?”
“Laura was paranoid at the end.”
“Maybe she had reasons.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“She told me once that if Daniel ever realized how much she had copied, he’d burn the company down before he let her take him to prison.”
Michael felt a chill unrelated to weather.
Vanessa put her sunglasses back on.
Then she said the sentence that changed the entire investigation.
“Daniel didn’t start with you, Michael.”
May you like
She stepped toward her car.
“He started with Laura.”
