Chapter 3 - The Woman Before Vanessa
Blake Harlan refused to meet with Ethan.
His firm did not.
By ten the next morning, managing partner Susan Pierce had Daniel Ross on speakerphone and sounded furious.
“Blake has been placed on administrative leave.”
Ethan sat in Daniel’s office with Noah beside him drawing quietly.
“Why?”
Susan hesitated.
“Because we reviewed his document-management history after Daniel contacted us.”
“And?”
“He created multiple draft amendments concerning the Bennett Minor Trust without an active engagement number.”
Ethan’s hand tightened around his coffee cup.
“When?”
“Over the last eleven months.”
“Who requested them?”
“The client field says Bennett Family Office.”
“I didn’t.”
“We know.”
Daniel asked, “Was Vanessa Hale copied?”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked at Noah.
The boy was drawing a house with an enormous red door.
Susan continued.
“There are also communications between Blake and a consultant named Adrian Cole.”
Daniel wrote the name down.
“Who is that?”
“We’re determining that.”
“Where is Blake now?”
“He left the office yesterday evening.”
“With Vanessa?”
“Our lobby cameras show her arriving at 6:22. Blake left through the garage at 6:41.”
“Together?”
“Separate vehicles.”
Ethan asked, “Did Vanessa leave with a blue document box?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“Did Blake?”
“No.”
Ethan leaned back.
At least the box had not disappeared into Blake’s files.
Daniel asked Susan to preserve every relevant record.
Then he ended the call.
Noah looked up.
“Is Blake bad?”
Ethan chose his words carefully.
“We don’t know everything he did yet.”
“He helped Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“So that’s bad.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“That part is.”
Ethan looked at Noah.
His son had become frightened whenever adults complicated obvious things.
Ethan was beginning to understand why.
That afternoon, Owen recovered a clearer copy of the memory-card video.
The small camera had been concealed inside a decorative book in Ethan’s study.
It was not part of the mansion security network.
Ethan stared at the frame.
“Who installed it?”
Owen zoomed in on metadata.
“Camera activated eight months ago.”
“I didn’t authorize this.”
“Neither did my department.”
“So Vanessa was recording me?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel asked, “Could she have installed it?”
Owen examined the clips.
“If she did, she forgot it recorded locally.”
Another possibility emerged when they reviewed the earliest file.
Rosa entered the study.
She placed the decorative book on a shelf.
Ethan stopped the video.
“Rosa.”
They called her in.
She did not deny it.
“Claire gave me the camera.”
Ethan stared.
“Claire died four years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You installed something she gave you three years after her death?”
“No.”
Rosa shook her head.
“I installed it before she died.”
The room went silent.
“Why was it still running?”
“Because I forgot it was there.”
Owen frowned.
“The battery?”
“It was plugged into the lamp outlet behind the shelving.”
Ethan looked at Rosa as if he no longer knew his own house.
“Start at the beginning.”
Rosa sat.
“About six months before the accident, Mrs. Claire became worried somebody was entering your study.”
“Who?”
“She didn’t know.”
“She installed a hidden camera?”
“She asked me to.”
“Why not tell me?”
“She said she needed proof first.”
Ethan’s frustration rose.
“Proof of what?”
Rosa’s eyes filled with old sadness.
“She thought someone inside Bennett Hospitality was trying to change documents connected to Noah’s inheritance.”
Noah stopped coloring.
“Mine?”
Ethan put a hand on his shoulder.
Rosa continued.
“Then Mrs. Claire died.”
“In a car accident.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not suggesting—”
“No.”
Rosa interrupted immediately.
“I never heard her say anyone wanted to hurt her. The police found the other driver responsible. I am not saying otherwise.”
The distinction mattered.
Daniel nodded.
“Good.”
Ethan exhaled.
“So why keep the camera running?”
“After the funeral, I could not bring myself to touch the study.”
“And four years of footage sat there?”
“No. The card overwrote itself every few weeks.”
Owen nodded.
“That explains why we only have recent files.”
Ethan looked at the memory card.
“Then how did Vanessa get it?”
Rosa answered.
“She must have found the camera yesterday.”
Noah raised his hand slightly.
Everyone looked at him.
“She had something black in her hand before she took my backpack.”
Ethan’s pulse quickened.
“What?”
“I thought it was a button.”
“The memory card?”
Noah nodded.
“She put it in her pocket.”
So Vanessa had discovered Claire’s camera, removed the card, and intended to destroy it.
Then Noah entered.
Perhaps he saw her with it.
Perhaps she panicked.
Perhaps the bracelet accusation had been improvised from a larger plan already in motion.
Daniel opened the recovered video index.
“There are more clips.”
They found one from six weeks earlier.
Vanessa and Blake again.
This time no documents.
Only conversation.
Blake asked, “Does Ethan know you met Claire?”
Vanessa answered immediately.
“No.”
“Will Rosa recognize you?”
“She never saw me.”
“And Claire?”
A long pause.
Vanessa looked directly toward the bookshelf where Claire’s camera was hidden.
Then she said:
“Claire knew my real name.”
Ethan whispered, “Real name?”
Daniel stopped the video.
Nobody moved.
May you like
The woman Ethan planned to marry might not even be Vanessa Hale.
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