Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Watched ThemDetective Ruiz returned that night.
This time she brought evidence bags.
The laptop changed everything.
So did the photographs.
Daniel sat at the dining table while Ruiz carefully photographed each item.
“Don't touch anything else,” she told him.
“I already touched everything.”
“I know.”
She didn't sound happy about it.
Sophie was upstairs with Kate.
Daniel kept looking toward the ceiling.
Every creak made him think Vanessa had returned.
Ruiz noticed.
“We'll request a temporary protective order.”
“Tonight?”
“We'll start tonight.”
“Can she come here?”
“If she does, call 911.”
Daniel nodded.
Ruiz picked up the hard drive.
“If your wife's fingerprints are on this—”
“They will be.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
Ruiz gave him a look.
“Evidence doesn't care what you know.”
Daniel understood.
He hated it anyway.
The next morning, the school called.
Vanessa had arrived to pick up Sophie.
Daniel nearly drove through a red light getting there.
By the time he reached the office, Vanessa was standing near the front desk with two administrators.
Sophie had not been released.
Daniel stormed inside.
“What are you doing here?”
Vanessa turned.
She looked composed.
Expensive beige coat.
Perfect makeup.
Nothing like the woman who had cut a child's hair.
“My attorney advised me to maintain normal routines.”
“You are not taking Sophie.”
“I am her stepmother.”
“You abused her.”
Vanessa looked at the administrators.
“You see what I'm dealing with?”
Daniel stepped closer.
The principal moved between them.
“Mr. Carter.”
Daniel stopped.
Vanessa smiled faintly.
Then Sophie appeared in the hallway with the school counselor.
The second she saw Vanessa, she froze.
That reaction was enough.
The counselor knelt beside her.
“You don't have to go anywhere.”
Vanessa opened her arms.
“Sophie, sweetheart.”
Sophie backed away.
Daniel's anger became ice.
“Leave.”
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
She looked at Sophie.
“I would never hurt you.”
Sophie stared at her.
“You already did.”
Several adults heard it.
Vanessa went pale.
Daniel saw something else too.
Fear.
Not of him.
Of Sophie talking.
Vanessa turned and walked out.
Daniel remained until her car left the parking lot.
The counselor, Mrs. Bradley, asked if they could speak privately.
Inside her office, she opened a folder.
“I need to show you something.”
“What?”
“Sophie's drawings.”
Daniel frowned.
Mrs. Bradley spread several sheets across the desk.
The first showed three stick figures.
Daniel.
Sophie.
Vanessa.
Vanessa was drawn without a face.
The second showed a woman standing outside a bedroom door.
The third showed Sophie inside a box.
Daniel stared.
“When did she draw these?”
“Over the last six months.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“We asked Sophie if she felt unsafe.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was afraid you would be taken away.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Vanessa had built the threat perfectly.
Talk and lose Dad.
Stay silent and survive.
Mrs. Bradley slid another drawing forward.
This one was different.
It showed a blonde woman and another woman with brown hair.
Beside them stood a little girl.
Between the two women was a red X.
“What is this?”
“Sophie told me the blonde lady hated her mommy.”
Daniel looked closer.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“She said Vanessa hated Megan?”
Mrs. Bradley nodded.
“And something else.”
Daniel waited.
“She said Vanessa told her she was supposed to have Megan's life.”
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
“What exactly did Sophie say?”
Mrs. Bradley checked her notes.
“She said, ‘Vanessa said Mommy stole Daddy before Vanessa could have him.’”
Daniel stared at her.
That was impossible.
He met Megan in college.
They married at twenty-four.
He had never known Vanessa.
Unless—
He hadn't remembered her.
Daniel left the school and called Kate.
“Pull out my college yearbooks.”
“What?”
“All of them.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
An hour later, Kate sent a photograph.
Daniel enlarged it.
Senior year.
A campus volunteer committee.
Twenty-seven students.
Daniel stood in the back row.
Megan beside him.
Three people away stood a young brunette.
Thin face.
Dark hair.
Same eyes.
Vanessa.
Under the photograph was a list of names.
Vanessa Petrov.
Daniel stared.
He hadn't met Vanessa after Megan died.
He hadn't even met her through Megan four years earlier.
She had been watching from the edges of his life for more than fifteen years.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Daniel answered.
May you like
Vanessa's voice whispered:
“Now you're finally remembering me.”
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