Chapter 7 - THE PHONE ELEANOR HIDA technician recovered deleted files from Eleanor’s phone.
Three voice memos.
Two photographs.
One video fragment.
The first photo showed bruising on Eleanor’s forearm.
Timestamp: twelve days before Daniel returned.
The second showed a document on the kitchen table.
Daniel zoomed.
PETITION FOR LIMITED GUARDIANSHIP.
His stomach dropped.
Rebecca read the document later.
“This is a draft.”
“Guardianship over my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Requested by whom?”
“Vanessa.”
Daniel stared.
“On what basis?”
“Alleged cognitive decline.”
“She never filed it.”
“Correct.”
“Why draft it?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Leverage.”
Then the recovered audio.
Vanessa’s voice:
“If you keep interfering, I’ll have you declared incompetent.”
Eleanor:
“You can't.”
Vanessa:
“I can make people ask the question.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
That line was sophisticated.
She did not need certainty.
Only suspicion.
Another memo contained Sophie crying.
Eleanor saying:
“Stop yelling at her.”
Vanessa:
“She understands exactly what she’s doing.”
“She’s four.”
“She manipulates you.”
Then a hard sound.
Not clearly an impact.
Eleanor gasped.
Recording ended.
Daniel asked:
“Can police use this?”
Rebecca nodded.
“With context.”
“What about the bat?”
“Still missing.”
Police had searched Vanessa’s temporary apartment and the Hayes house.
No bat.
Then exterior camera footage showed something.
Thirty-six minutes after Daniel left for the hospital, Vanessa returned to the house with a large gym bag.
She exited six minutes later.
Bag heavier.
Daniel stared.
“She took it.”
Probably.
Not proof.
But enough for police to seek more.
The car’s GPS showed Vanessa drove toward a storage facility.
A warrant later recovered the wooden bat from a rented unit.
Vanessa’s attorney claimed she removed it because Daniel was “unstable” and she feared he might use it.
Daniel almost admired the creativity.
Almost.
Forensic testing found Eleanor’s skin cells on the bat.
No blood.
No definitive proof of striking.
But the object had contact with her.
Vanessa’s story had been that Eleanor merely held it before falling.
Possible.
May you like
Still.
The pile of “possible” explanations was becoming a mountain.
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