Chapter 6 - The Red PhoneVanessa recovered quickly.
She always did.
“That looks like Ethan's.”
Richard kept his eyes on her.
“You've seen it before?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“I don't catalog every toy he owns.”
“It isn't a toy.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“Then what is it?”
“You tell me.”
Richard held up the red case.
Something flickered behind her eyes.
Annoyance.
Not confusion.
“I'm exhausted, Richard.”
“So am I.”
“Our child is in the hospital.”
“Your stepson.”
Vanessa went still.
“What?”
“You called him your stepson earlier.”
“Because legally—”
“You haven't used that word in years.”
Vanessa's expression softened.
“You're looking for reasons to blame me because you feel guilty about Maria.”
Richard's jaw tightened.
“This isn't about Maria.”
“It always is.”
She stepped closer.
“For six years you've trusted that woman with everything. Your house. Your son. Your private life. She knows your passwords. Your schedule. Where you keep important documents.”
“She doesn't know my passwords.”
“You don't know what she knows.”
Richard stared.
“You're afraid of her.”
Vanessa laughed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I am afraid of what she did to Ethan.”
“Ethan said she saved him.”
“He's eight and nearly froze to death.”
“He was afraid when he saw you.”
That landed.
Vanessa's face changed.
Only slightly.
“You're imagining things.”
“I watched his heart monitor spike.”
“He was traumatized.”
“He told me not to let you inside.”
Vanessa looked as if Richard had slapped her.
For one second, he almost apologized.
Then he remembered the freezer.
“Why would he say that?”
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Maria has spent years poisoning him against me.”
Richard said nothing.
The tears came faster.
It was a performance he had seen before.
Or maybe it wasn't.
That was the most terrifying part.
He could no longer tell.
“I tried,” Vanessa whispered. “I tried to be his mother. I never asked him to forget Claire.”
Richard stiffened at the name.
Claire.
Ethan's biological mother.
His first wife.
Dead six years.
A car accident on an icy road outside Stamford.
Maria had worked for them then too.
Vanessa had entered Richard's life nearly two years later.
“You don't get to use Claire right now.”
“Why? Because only Maria is allowed to remember her?”
Richard's phone rang.
Detective Ward.
He answered immediately.
“We got the blood result.”
Richard turned away from Vanessa.
“And?”
“The blood on the freezer latch is Vanessa's.”
Silence filled the basement.
Richard felt Vanessa watching him.
Ward continued.
“That's not proof by itself. She lives there. She could have cut herself another time.”
“Was it fresh?”
“The lab can't give me an exact timestamp, but the condition is consistent with recent transfer.”
Richard looked at Vanessa's bandaged finger.
“Thank you.”
“Richard.”
“One more thing.”
He waited.
“We checked the security panel.”
His heartbeat accelerated.
“The camera was disabled using a four-digit code.”
“What code?”
“Your home alarm PIN.”
Richard frowned.
“That code is six digits.”
“It is now.”
He felt cold.
“What do you mean?”
“The panel had an old local override. Four digits.”
Richard slowly turned toward the red phone case in his hand.
9 — 14 — 22.
Not four digits.
Dates?
Ward continued.
“According to the installation company, the original override was assigned when the system was first installed.”
“Who knew it?”
“They emailed the setup documentation to two people.”
Richard swallowed.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Vanessa.”
Richard looked directly at his wife.
Her face was unreadable.
Ward said, “Do not confront her.”
Richard almost laughed.
Too late.
“What happens now?”
“We're coming back in the morning.”
The call ended.
Vanessa watched him.
“Was that the police?”
“Yes.”
“What did they want?”
Richard held her gaze.
“Nothing important.”
Vanessa's eyes narrowed.
For the first time, Richard saw her realize he might be lying to her.
A different kind of silence settled between them.
Then a phone vibrated.
Not Richard's.
Not Vanessa's visible phone, which was in her hand.
The sound came from somewhere behind the security cabinet.
Both of them turned.
Richard moved first.
“Don't,” Vanessa said.
He reached behind the panel.
His fingers closed around something wedged between the cabinet and the wall.
A smartphone.
Bright red.
Vanessa lunged.
Richard stepped back.
“What are you doing?”
“Give me that.”
“Why?”
“It's mine.”
The words escaped her.
Richard stared.
Vanessa stopped.
The red phone vibrated again.
A message appeared on the lock screen.
NO NAME.
But Richard could read the preview.
Did the kid talk?
Richard slowly lifted his eyes to his wife.
Vanessa looked at the message.
May you like
Then at him.
And ran.
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