Chapter 9 - VANESSA'S SECOND PHONEPolice found Vanessa at a hotel in Santa Monica.
She was not arrested.
Not yet.
Ethan had reported the suitcase incident and provided Sophie's notebook.
Child Protective Services opened an investigation.
Vanessa denied everything.
She claimed Sophie fabricated stories because she resented having a stepmother.
Then police asked about Grace.
Vanessa requested an attorney.
That changed the atmosphere.
Ethan spent the night at home with Sophie.
He barely slept.
At 2:00 a.m., Sophie came into his bedroom.
"Can I stay?"
"Always."
She climbed beside him.
For years, Ethan had worked obsessively to give Sophie security after losing Grace.
Now he wondered how much of that security had been an illusion.
Sophie fell asleep holding his sleeve.
The next morning, his attorney called.
Vanessa wanted access to the house to collect belongings.
Ethan agreed only with police present.
At eleven, Vanessa arrived.
She didn't look at Sophie.
Sophie stayed at Mrs. Rivera's.
Vanessa packed silently.
When she reached the garage, Ethan watched.
She approached her car.
Then stopped.
Police had obtained a warrant.
The second phone Sophie described was being removed from beneath the driver's seat.
Vanessa's face went white.
Her attorney immediately objected.
Too late.
The phone went into evidence.
Ethan stared at Vanessa.
"What's on it?"
She looked at him.
"Nothing."
He almost smiled.
"Then why are you scared?"
She walked away.
Four hours later, detectives called Ethan.
The phone contained messages with Daniel.
Most were old.
Evidence of the affair.
Embarrassing.
Not criminal.
Then investigators found messages with a number saved as BELL.
Bellora.
The conversations began eleven months earlier.
V: Does she remember her husband?
BELL: Not clearly.
V: Do not mention the child unless she does first.
Ethan's hands shook.
The contact wasn't Dr. Levin.
It was a private nurse.
A woman named Melissa Crane.
Vanessa had paid her.
There were photographs.
Updates.
Details of Grace's memory.
The nurse had been feeding Vanessa information.
Ethan felt sick.
Then a message from three weeks earlier:
BELL: Grace asked about the accident again.
V: What did she remember?
BELL: Your car.
V: Anything else?
BELL: Phone. Brakes. She became distressed.
Another:
V: Increase her medication if she's agitated.
Ethan looked at the detective.
"She had authority to do that?"
"No."
"Did the nurse?"
"Not independently."
"But did she?"
"We're investigating."
Ethan wanted to break something.
Instead he asked:
"Anything about Sophie?"
The detective hesitated.
"Yes."
Ethan's stomach tightened.
There were texts between Vanessa and someone saved M.
V: Kid found the old photo.
M: Which one?
V: Grace.
M: Handle it.
V: Ethan comes back Wednesday. I can move Sophie before then.
Ethan stopped breathing.
"Move Sophie where?"
Police didn't know.
Another message:
M: Do not bring her here.
V: Then where?
M: Your sister's place in Arizona.
Ethan stared.
Vanessa had a sister outside Phoenix.
They barely spoke.
At least, that was what Ethan believed.
The detective continued.
"Then this morning."
A newer message.
M: You failed.
V: He came home early.
M: Grace will talk now.
V: I know.
M: Then we need the backup plan.
Ethan's blood went cold.
"Who is M?"
"We're working on it."
He already had a suspicion.
"Daniel?"
"No. Different number."
"Who?"
"We don't know yet."
Ethan thought about Vanessa's college years.
Grace.
The Weston Foundation.
The nurse.
Someone had helped her.
Then investigators found an audio file.
Recorded accidentally.
Vanessa's phone had captured part of a call.
A man's voice.
Older.
Controlled.
"If Grace remembers what happened before the crash, Ethan will know why she was driving north."
Vanessa:
"He thinks she was going to her sister."
Man:
"She wasn't."
Ethan stared at the detective.
"Play it again."
They did.
He knew the voice.
Not Daniel.
Someone he had heard at Christmas dinners.
At Sophie's birthdays.
At his wedding to Vanessa.
Vanessa's father.
Richard Hale.
Ethan's pulse quickened.
Richard was a retired surgeon living in Arizona.
He had always claimed he'd never met Grace.
Now he was discussing the night of her disappearance.
The recording continued.
Vanessa asked:
"What if she remembers you?"
Richard answered:
"Then we have a much bigger problem than Ethan."
Ethan leaned back.
"What the hell does that mean?"
The detective didn't know.
Neither did Ethan.
Then another message arrived from Bellora.
Grace had experienced a major memory breakthrough.
She wanted to speak to Ethan immediately.
He called.
Grace answered herself.
"Ethan?"
"I'm here."
Her voice shook.
"I remembered where I was going."
"Your sister's?"
"No."
His stomach tightened.
"Where?"
"To meet Vanessa's father."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"Why?"
Grace began crying.
"Because he knew what Vanessa had done."
"What had she done?"
A pause.
Then Grace whispered:
"She had been inside our house."
Ethan frowned.
"When?"
"The day before the crash."
"What did she do?"
May you like
Grace's next words made his skin turn cold.
"She copied your safe key."
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