Chapter 8 - The Night Someone Came InDaniel called the police.
Vanessa left before they arrived.
She didn't run.
She simply walked through the front door, got into her car, and drove away.
The officers took a report about Sophie's haircut.
Daniel showed them photographs.
He showed them Megan's phone.
The anonymous messages.
The recovered email address.
But three-year-old suspicions surrounding a fatal accident were not enough for handcuffs.
Not yet.
A detective named Elena Ruiz listened more carefully than the others.
“You're saying your current wife knew your first wife before you met.”
“Yes.”
“She admits creating marital problems?”
“She admitted sending false evidence.”
“Do you have that recorded?”
Daniel went still.
“No.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Then from this point forward, assume everything she says needs documentation.”
Daniel hated hearing it.
Because Vanessa understood that too.
She would never confess so freely again.
Ruiz asked about the computer.
“Megan's MacBook disappeared after her death,” Daniel said.
“You reported it stolen?”
“No.”
“I thought it was lost during the move.”
“Who handled her belongings?”
Daniel thought.
Kate.
Marcus.
Himself.
And dozens of items had gone into storage.
“Vanessa could have taken it before Megan died.”
“Possibly.”
Ruiz wrote something down.
“What evidence did Megan have against Vanessa?”
“I don't know.”
“That matters.”
“I know.”
Detective Ruiz left her card.
“Keep your daughter away from Vanessa.”
“I will.”
“And don't play detective alone.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Almost.
That evening, Sophie returned home.
Kate came with her and refused to leave.
Daniel didn't argue.
They cleaned Sophie's room together.
Kate collected the locks of hair while Daniel vacuumed.
Sophie watched from the bed.
“Can we keep some?”
Daniel stopped.
“Of your hair?”
She nodded.
“Mom kept my first haircut.”
Daniel's chest tightened.
“Of course.”
Kate placed a small lock inside an envelope.
Sophie wrote her name on it.
Later, Daniel took her to a salon owned by one of Kate's friends.
The stylist didn't pretend the damage could disappear.
She carefully shaped what remained into a short, uneven bob.
When Sophie looked in the mirror, she cried.
Daniel's heart broke.
Then the stylist knelt beside her.
“It will grow.”
Sophie touched the shortest section.
“How long?”
“Longer every day.”
That answer seemed to help.
Back home, Sophie walked into Daniel's office while he searched through old photographs.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Vanessa used Mom's computer.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“She had a silver computer.”
“When?”
“Sometimes at night.”
Daniel stood.
“Where?”
“In the basement.”
His pulse accelerated.
“How long ago?”
“Before she moved in.”
Daniel frowned.
“Vanessa was here before she moved in?”
Sophie nodded.
“When you were sleeping.”
The room went cold.
“What do you mean?”
“After Mom died, you slept a lot.”
Daniel remembered.
Grief.
Medication.
Nights blurred into days.
Vanessa had begun “helping” before they officially dated.
Dropping off food.
Taking Sophie to school.
Organizing the house.
“How did you know the computer was Mom's?”
“It had the flower sticker.”
Megan had put a yellow sunflower sticker beside the trackpad.
Daniel remembered it perfectly.
“Where did Vanessa keep it?”
“In a black bag.”
“Where is the bag now?”
Sophie shrugged.
Daniel headed for the basement.
Kate followed.
“What did she say?”
“Vanessa had Megan's laptop here.”
They searched storage shelves.
Nothing.
Then Sophie appeared at the top of the stairs.
“She put things in the wall.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“The wall by the washer.”
Kate frowned.
Daniel approached the laundry room.
One section of drywall behind a shelving unit looked slightly newer than the rest.
He touched it.
Hollow.
“Get me a screwdriver.”
Ten minutes later, Daniel removed part of the panel.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Inside sat a black laptop bag.
Kate whispered:
“No way.”
Daniel pulled it out.
The zipper opened.
Megan's silver MacBook was inside.
Sunflower sticker and all.
Beside it lay a small portable hard drive.
And a stack of printed photographs.
Daniel picked them up.
They showed him.
Not Megan.
Daniel.
Leaving work.
Buying coffee.
Walking Sophie to preschool.
Eating lunch with clients.
Dozens of photographs.
Taken from a distance.
Months before Megan died.
Vanessa had been photographing him before he even knew who she was.
Kate looked sick.
“This isn't about money.”
Daniel said nothing.
He flipped to the final photograph.
It showed Megan standing outside their old house.
Someone had written across her face in black marker.
LIAR.
Daniel turned it over.
There was a date.
Two days before Megan's death.
May you like
And one sentence beneath it.
Soon he'll finally be free.
Related Stories
