Chapter 12 - Vanessa Was in the SUVArthur called Vanessa before the police could stop him.
“You were in the SUV.”
Silence.
He nearly shouted.
“Were you?”
Vanessa began crying.
That was the answer.
Arthur shut his eyes.
“Tell me.”
“Arthur—”
“Tell me now.”
“I wasn’t driving.”
His stomach dropped.
“Who was?”
“Thomas.”
Arthur pressed one hand against the wall.
Detective Price, now listening on a recorded line, motioned for him to keep her talking.
“Why were you following Caroline?”
“Thomas said she was taking evidence to someone.”
“Daniel.”
“I didn’t know who.”
“You followed my wife through a storm.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To scare her into stopping.”
The honesty was monstrous.
“What happened?”
“Thomas drove too close.”
Arthur’s jaw clenched.
“How close?”
“I told him to back off.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“What did Caroline do?”
“She sped up.”
Arthur’s eyes filled.
The vehicle data.
Acceleration before braking.
“What happened next?”
Vanessa’s breathing became ragged.
“She took the curve too fast.”
Arthur stopped breathing.
“The car went off the road.”
Silence.
Then Vanessa whispered:
“I screamed at Thomas to stop.”
Arthur’s knees weakened.
“Did he?”
“For a second.”
“What did you see?”
“Her car against the tree.”
Arthur covered his mouth.
“Did you call 911?”
Vanessa sobbed.
“No.”
The word broke something permanently.
“No.”
“Thomas said if we called, everything would come out.”
Arthur felt tears run down his face.
“So you left her.”
“I thought someone else would come.”
“You left Caroline dying in a car because you were afraid of being caught stealing.”
“I know.”
“No.”
His voice shook.
“You don’t get to say you know.”
Vanessa cried harder.
Arthur didn’t care.
“What happened to her phone?”
“Thomas went down to the car.”
Arthur went completely still.
“What?”
“He said he needed to see if she had the notebook.”
“Caroline was still alive?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was she moving?”
Vanessa’s silence lasted too long.
“Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
Arthur nearly dropped the phone.
Caroline had been alive.
Thomas approached the wreck.
Not to help.
To search.
“What did he take?”
“Her phone.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he call for help?”
“No.”
Arthur shut his eyes.
Official emergency call came from another driver approximately nine minutes later.
Nine minutes.
Maybe they mattered.
Maybe they didn’t.
Arthur would never know.
“Why did you marry me?”
Vanessa whispered:
“Because I loved you.”
Arthur almost laughed from grief.
“You watched my wife die.”
“I didn’t know she would die.”
“You left her.”
“Yes.”
“And then you stood beside me at charity dinners while I grieved her.”
“Yes.”
“And you came into my children’s home.”
Vanessa couldn’t answer.
Arthur’s voice dropped.
“You let Ethan call you family.”
“I tried to make it right.”
“You tried to bury what you did.”
Silence.
“Where is Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why did he call you about the bank?”
“He contacts me.”
“How?”
“Burner phones.”
“Why?”
“To make sure I stay quiet.”
Detective Price wrote quickly.
“Where do you meet?”
“We don’t.”
“Where does he call from?”
“I don’t know.”
Arthur almost ended it.
Then Vanessa said:
“There’s another reason he wants Caroline’s evidence.”
“What?”
“He forged your signature too.”
Arthur stared.
“On what?”
“Your father’s trust.”
Arthur’s pulse changed.
His father had died twelve years earlier.
That trust formed the backbone of Whitmore Development’s family holdings.
“What did Thomas change?”
Vanessa’s voice became barely audible.
“Who controls the company if something happens to you.”
Arthur looked toward the staircase.
His children were upstairs.
“What does it say?”
“If you die or become incapacitated before Maya turns eighteen…”
She stopped.
Arthur’s skin crawled.
“Say it.”
“Control passes temporarily to the surviving spouse.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Vanessa.
“That’s why you hid the amendment.”
“I was trying to destroy it.”
Arthur laughed bitterly.
“Now you want me to believe you were protecting me?”
“No.”
Vanessa sounded exhausted.
“I was protecting myself.”
Arthur appreciated the honesty only because he hated it.
“If police found it, they’d think I planned everything.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then why not tell me?”
“Because I knew what it looked like.”
Arthur stared at the phone.
A forged document giving Vanessa control if Arthur died.
A dead first wife.
A terrified child.
A hidden key.
Vanessa had reason to be afraid of appearances.
But maybe not because they were false.
Before the call ended, Arthur asked one final question.
“What were you searching for when Maya found you?”
Vanessa inhaled.
“The original trust amendment.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Caroline had it?”
“Yes.”
Arthur looked at the safe deposit materials.
They had only found a draft.
Not the original.
“Thomas wants it too?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you find the original, you’ll see whose signature is underneath yours.”
Arthur frowned.
“My signature?”
“No.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Your father’s.”
May you like
Arthur’s father had been dead long before Vanessa claimed to know Thomas.
Which meant this corruption went back much further than Caroline.
Related Stories
