Chapter 3 - Vanessa Had Used Another Name
Vanessa sat at the dining table while Daniel remained standing.
Building security waited outside the room.
Rachel was still being questioned separately.
“Start with your name.”
Vanessa stared at her hands.
“My legal name is Vanessa Hart.”
“Because you married me.”
“Yes.”
“Before that.”
Silence.
“Vanessa.”
“Reed.”
Daniel felt his jaw tighten.
“So Clarke?”
“My stepfather’s name.”
“You told me it was your birth name.”
“I know.”
“How long have you known Rachel?”
Vanessa looked up.
“Since we were teenagers.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“You recommended her agency.”
“Yes.”
“You told me you had never met the caregiver they assigned.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Because your mother would never have allowed Rachel into the house if
she knew.”
Daniel stared.
“Knew what?”
“That Rachel knew me before you.”
“That isn’t a reason.”
“No.”
Vanessa breathed shakily.
“She also knew your father.”
Daniel stopped.
His father, Thomas Hart, had died twelve years earlier after a heart
attack.
Rachel would have been young then.
“What does Rachel have to do with my father?”
Vanessa did not answer.
Daniel placed the photograph in front of her.
“Harbor House.”
Her eyes dropped.
“What was it?”
“A treatment center.”
“For you?”
“No.”
“For Rachel?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Vanessa whispered, “My mother.”
Daniel frowned.
“Your mother died when you were seventeen.”
“That’s what I told you.”
Daniel stared.
Vanessa wiped her face.
“My mother was alive until six years ago.”
Every answer opened another lie.
Daniel sat down because he no longer trusted his legs.
“Why did you lie about that?”
“Because of who she was.”
“Who?”
Vanessa looked toward the closed doors.
“Your father’s bookkeeper.”
Silence.
Daniel remembered his father’s business.
Hartwell Development.
Luxury properties.
Hotels.
Private investment partnerships.
After Thomas died, Eleanor sold most of it.
Daniel kept only the real estate division.
“My father had hundreds of employees.”
“Her name was Laura Reed.”
Daniel knew it.
Not personally.
From somewhere older.
Then he remembered.
A newspaper article.
An embezzlement scandal.
Laura Reed had been accused of stealing nearly three million dollars
from Hartwell Development.
She vanished before trial.
Vanessa watched recognition spread across his face.
“My mother didn’t steal that money.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did she disappear?”
“She was afraid.”
“Of my father?”
Vanessa nodded.
Daniel stood.
“My father died twelve years ago. Why are you drugging my mother now?”
“I never drugged Eleanor.”
“Your laptop deleted the footage.”
“Yes.”
“Rachel gave her a sedative.”
“I didn’t tell her to.”
“Then why delete it?”
Vanessa began crying.
“Because the footage showed me in Eleanor’s room.”
Daniel froze.
“When?”
“Two nights ago.”
“Doing what?”
“Looking for something.”
There it was again.
The glances.
The search.
“What?”
Vanessa whispered, “A ledger.”
Daniel stared.
“What ledger?”
“Your father’s.”
Eleanor had never mentioned one.
Vanessa continued.
“My mother said Thomas kept a handwritten record separate from the
company books.”
“A record of what?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“She never told me.”
“Then why does it matter?”
“Because before she died, she told me Eleanor had it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“My mother is seventy-eight years old and you brought someone into her
home to sedate her while you searched?”
“No!”
Vanessa stood.
“I asked Rachel to help me find the ledger. I never told her to give
Eleanor anything.”
Daniel wanted to believe that distinction.
He could not yet.
Then security entered.
“Mr. Hart, Rachel is asking to speak with you.”
“Why?”
“She says Mrs. Hart is lying.”
Vanessa went still.
Daniel looked at her.
“Which Mrs. Hart?”
The guard answered.
“Your wife.”
May you like
Rachel apparently had her own version of what had happened.
And she claimed Vanessa was the person Daniel should fear.
