Chapter 15 - The First TargetDaniel read the sentence three times.
Vanessa wasn't trying to kill me first.
She was trying to kill you.
The rest of Megan's letter shook in his hands.
Three months ago, your brakes failed in the parking garage.
You thought the mechanic made a mistake.
He didn't.
Someone cut the line.
Daniel remembered.
His BMW had rolled through a stop sign inside the garage.
He had managed to pull the emergency brake.
The dealership later called it a damaged brake hose.
Daniel had assumed wear.
Megan hadn't.
I asked Vee about it as a test.
I never told her what happened.
She said, “Maybe Daniel should stop driving so fast.”
That's when I knew.
Daniel sat on the attic floor.
His head spun.
Why would Vanessa try to kill him if she was supposedly obsessed with him?
He kept reading.
I think she wanted you hurt, not dead.
She wanted you dependent.
She wanted to be the person who saved you.
Daniel's skin crawled.
Megan had understood Vanessa before anyone.
She creates emergencies and then steps into them.
If something happens to me, she'll do the same thing.
Daniel thought of Vanessa arriving after Megan's death.
Food.
Support.
Comfort.
Saving him.
Exactly as Megan predicted.
There was one final paragraph.
Robert knows part of this.
Marcus knows another part.
But there's one person who knows almost everything.
Find Elise Warren.
Daniel photographed the letter and called Ruiz.
“Who is Elise Warren?”
“I don't know.”
“Megan said she knows everything.”
Ruiz began searching.
Within an hour they had an address.
Elise Warren, thirty-eight.
Licensed clinical therapist.
Denver, Colorado.
Daniel stared at the profession.
Therapist.
Whose therapist?
Ruiz called Elise.
The woman refused to discuss anything over the phone.
Then Ruiz mentioned Megan.
Elise went silent.
“I'll come to Chicago.”
She arrived the next day.
Daniel met her at the police station.
Elise looked exhausted before the interview began.
“Were you Megan's therapist?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
“Vanessa's?”
Elise closed her eyes.
“Roommate.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“When?”
“After college.”
“Did she talk about me?”
Elise laughed bitterly.
“She built her life around you.”
Daniel felt sick.
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After Megan died.”
Daniel stared.
“I contacted police.”
Ruiz checked a file.
“I don't see it.”
“I didn't know her married name. I only knew Megan through Vanessa's stories.”
Elise folded her hands.
“Vanessa used to talk about scenarios.”
“What scenarios?”
“How people become emotionally dependent.”
Daniel felt cold.
“She studied psychology?”
“For two years.”
“What did she say?”
“That the strongest bond isn't love.”
Elise looked directly at him.
“It's rescue.”
Daniel thought of every crisis Vanessa had solved.
Every time she had appeared exactly when he needed someone.
Elise continued.
“She believed if you save someone at their lowest moment, they'll confuse relief with love.”
Daniel's stomach turned.
“So she manufactured my lowest moment.”
“Yes.”
“Did she intend to kill Megan?”
Elise's face changed.
“I don't know.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“She talked about getting Megan out of the way.”
“How?”
“Divorce. Scandal. Arrest. Anything.”
“Death?”
Elise hesitated.
“Once.”
Daniel stopped moving.
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Accidents happen to distracted people.’”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“When?”
“A few weeks before Megan died.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Elise continued.
“She also asked if brake lines could fail without investigators noticing.”
The room became silent.
Ruiz's pen stopped.
Daniel whispered:
“She killed her.”
Elise shook her head.
“I can't prove that.”
“But you believe it.”
Elise's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Ruiz asked:
“Why come forward now?”
Elise reached into her bag.
“Because I kept something.”
She placed a small voice recorder on the table.
Daniel stared.
“Vanessa used to record herself talking through plans. She said hearing them helped organize her thoughts.”
Ruiz pulled on gloves.
“What's on this?”
Elise looked at Daniel.
“The night before Megan died, Vanessa stayed with me.”
Daniel's heart began pounding.
“She couldn't sleep.”
Elise swallowed.
“So she recorded herself.”
“What did she say?”
Elise looked toward the recorder.
“I never listened to all of it until Megan died.”
Daniel could barely breathe.
“And?”
May you like
Elise whispered:
“She talked about the brakes.”
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