Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Stayed After the Funeral
Deputy Sarah Delaney separated everyone before asking questions.
Vanessa sat in the dining room with another deputy.
Nathan remained upstairs with Chloe until Chloe’s grandmother, Ruth, arrived from twenty miles away.
Ruth took one look at Chloe’s cheek and nearly marched downstairs herself.
Nathan stopped her.
“Not in front of Chloe.”
Ruth’s gray eyes burned.
“She hit my granddaughter.”
“I know.”
“And she was here when Emily—”
“I know.”
Nathan’s voice cracked on his wife’s name.
Ruth softened.
Chloe sat on the edge of the bed clutching the yellow disposable camera.
“Are they going to arrest Vanessa?”
Nathan crouched in front of her.
“For hitting you, the sheriff will decide what happens.”
“And Mom?”
He hesitated.
“They’re going to look at everything again.”
“Because of the pictures?”
“Yes.”
Chloe looked down.
“Did Mom know she was going to die?”
Nathan felt as if someone had pressed a hand against his chest.
“I don’t know.”
“The note sounds like she was scared.”
“I know.”
“Was she scared for me?”
Nathan could not lie.
“I think she might have been.”
Chloe’s eyes filled.
“I don’t remember.”
“You were eight.”
“I should remember.”
“No.”
He touched her hands.
“You are not responsible for remembering things adults hid from you.”
Downstairs, Vanessa finally agreed to speak.
Her lawyer joined by phone.
Vanessa admitted striking Chloe.
She called it an impulsive act during a confrontation and said she regretted it.
When Deputy Delaney asked about the photographs, Vanessa’s answer changed.
“Yes, I visited Emily that week.”
“You previously told investigators you were in Boston.”
“I was in Boston.”
“The entire week?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“I drove to Lake Alder one evening and returned the same night.”
“Why lie?”
“Emily asked me not to tell Nathan.”
Nathan stared at her from across the table.
“Why would Emily care if I knew?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Because we were discussing you.”
The room went silent.
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“What about me?”
Vanessa folded her hands tightly.
“Your marriage.”
“Don’t.”
“You asked.”
“Emily and I had problems. That doesn’t explain your lie.”
“She thought you were hiding money.”
Nathan’s face changed.
Vanessa saw it.
So did Deputy Delaney.
Chloe was upstairs.
Nathan was grateful for that.
“What money?” Sarah asked.
Nathan answered.
“I had a business loan Emily didn’t know about.”
Vanessa gave a small, bitter laugh.
“Not just a loan.”
Nathan turned.
“What are you doing?”
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Is that accurate?”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“I invested in a development project that failed.”
“Did your wife know?”
“Not initially.”
“When did she find out?”
“The week before she died.”
Vanessa leaned back.
“She was furious.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You came here because of Lakehurst finances, not my marriage.”
“Both.”
“That isn’t what you just said.”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
Sarah interrupted.
“What was Mr. Vale doing here?”
Vanessa went still.
“I don’t remember Martin being here.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“There’s a photograph.”
“A silhouette.”
“There is enough of his face to recognize him.”
Vanessa looked toward the evidence envelope.
“I may be mistaken.”
Sarah’s tone sharpened.
“That is the second major detail you have suddenly remembered incorrectly.”
Vanessa looked down.
“Yes. Martin came.”
“Why?”
“To discuss company matters.”
“What company matters?”
“Emily controlled fifty-one percent of Lakehurst Hospitality. She wanted to begin an internal financial review.”
Nathan frowned.
“She never told me that.”
“She didn’t trust you then.”
The sentence hurt because it contained truth.
Emily had discovered Nathan’s debt six days before she died.
Their final week together had been brutal.
Arguments behind closed doors.
Nathan sleeping in the guest room.
Emily asking whether the life they had built was real.
Nathan had carried shame about those days for two years.
Now Vanessa was placing them into a murder investigation.
“What review?” Sarah asked.
Vanessa hesitated.
“Vendor contracts. Expenses. Management payments.”
“Were you CFO?”
“Yes.”
“Would the review include your work?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Motive.
Vanessa knew it.
Her lawyer knew it.
Nathan certainly knew it.
Vanessa’s voice lowered.
“I did not kill Emily.”
“Did you see her the night she died?”
“No.”
“Did Martin?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah slid the note across the table inside a plastic sleeve.
“If Vanessa comes back to the lake house, don’t let Chloe out of your sight.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Emily was angry.”
“That doesn’t explain Chloe.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Sarah waited.
Finally Vanessa whispered, “Emily thought I was using Chloe.”
Nathan stood.
The chair scraped backward.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“She thought I was trying to make her sign something by threatening what would happen to Chloe’s inheritance.”
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“What document?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“A management agreement.”
Nathan looked toward the hallway.
Martin Vale had brought him a document less than three weeks after Emily’s funeral.
Nathan remembered signing pages he barely understood.
He had been medicated for insomnia.
Barely eating.
Barely sleeping.
Martin had explained that the papers preserved the company until Chloe was old enough to inherit.
Vanessa had sat beside Nathan during the signing.
She had squeezed his hand and told him Emily would want him to protect Chloe’s future.
Nathan stared at Vanessa.
“What did I sign after the funeral?”
Vanessa looked frightened again.
“Nathan—”
“What did I sign?”
Sarah Delaney leaned forward.
Vanessa finally answered.
“The agreement Emily refused to sign.”
Nathan felt the room tilt.
Martin and Vanessa had waited until Emily was dead.
May you like
Then they had taken the document back to her grieving husband.
And Nathan had signed it.
