Chương 9
“Security located a woman in the east parking structure.”
My heart began beating harder.
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Is she hurt?”
“She has blood on her coat.”
Richard went still.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know.”
“Is she under arrest?”
“Not at this moment.”
“Why not?”
“Because being bloody in a parking garage is not a crime.”
“That’s comforting.”
Ortiz ignored me.
“She asked for Madison.”
Richard immediately said, “No.”
Ortiz looked at me.
“It isn’t his decision.”
“No.”
“It is mine.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn stood.
“You cannot let that woman near her.”
I looked at her.
“You knew about Claire and said nothing for twelve years.”
The sentence hit exactly where I meant it to.
Evelyn sat back down.
I hated myself a little for enjoying that.
Ortiz waited.
I looked at Eli.
Every part of me wanted security, locked doors, police officers, and a world small enough to control.
But Vanessa knew what happened on that cliff.
Maybe she knew what happened to Daniel.
Maybe she knew where Preston had gone.
Most of all, she had come to the hospital despite whatever danger had driven her there.
“Bring her,” I said.
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Madison.”
“With you and Ortiz here.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because I’m tired of everyone else knowing more about my life than I do.”
He looked at me for a long second.
Then he nodded once.
Ortiz made the call.
Ten minutes later, two officers appeared outside the room.
Vanessa stood between them.
Her gray coat was torn at one shoulder.
There was dried blood along one sleeve.
Her blonde hair was wet and tangled.
She looked nothing like the woman who used to arrive at Christmas parties in silk dresses and laugh too loudly at Preston’s jokes.
When she saw me alive in the bed, she stopped walking.
Her face collapsed.
“Oh, God.”
I felt nothing gentle toward her.
Nothing forgiving.
Nothing simple.
“Come in.”
She stepped through the doorway.
Then she saw Eli.
A sound left her throat.
Not a word.
She covered her mouth with both hands.
Ortiz closed the door.
“Whose blood is that?”
Vanessa lowered her hands.
“Daniel’s.”
Evelyn sucked in a breath.
I stared at Vanessa.
“You saw him fall?”
Her eyes filled.
“No.”
“Then how did his blood get on you?”
She looked at Ortiz.
“I tried to stop the bleeding.”
“Where?”
“On Ravenstone.”
“You were with him after Preston pushed Madison?”
Vanessa nodded.
I felt something inside me crack wider.
“You left me.”
Her eyes snapped toward mine.
“I thought you were dead.”
“You didn’t check.”
“Preston wouldn’t let me.”
“You had a phone.”
“He took it.”
“You had a car.”
“He had the keys.”
“You had legs.”
Vanessa flinched.
“I know.”
I could hear my own voice getting louder.
“I lay there for hours.”
“I know.”
“My son almost died.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
She stopped.
The room went still.
Eli began to fuss against me.
I adjusted the blanket with shaking fingers.
Vanessa watched him.
“He said the ledge was farther down.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“Preston.”
Her voice trembled.
“He chose that place because he thought there was nothing beneath it.”
Richard stared at her.
“You knew he planned to push her?”
“No.”
“Then what did you think he planned?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“To scare you.”
I almost laughed.
“Scare me into what?”
“Signing something.”
Ortiz stepped closer.
“What?”
Vanessa’s eyes moved toward Richard.
“The policy transfer.”
Richard’s face went hard.
“What transfer?”
“The fifty million wasn’t supposed to go to Preston.”
My pulse thudded in my ears.
Vanessa swallowed.
“It was supposed to go to Lila.”
Ortiz said, “Who is Lila Mercer?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, she looked directly at me.
“She’s Preston’s daughter.”
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
I heard the faint hiss of oxygen somewhere beyond the wall and the squeak of a cart rolling past in the corridor.
Then Evelyn said, “No.”
Vanessa did not look at her.
Evelyn stood anyway.
“No, that is not possible.”
Vanessa’s shoulders sagged.
“It is.”
“Preston does not have a seventeen-year-old daughter.”
“He does.”
“From whom?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Claire Donovan.”
The name made the room contract around us.
Ortiz stopped writing.
Richard’s expression did not change, but his eyes did.
Evelyn gripped the back of the chair.
“That woman told us she left the state.”
“She did.”
“You knew her?”
“No.”
“Then how would you know any of this?”
Vanessa wiped at her cheek with the back of her hand and left a faint streak of dried blood.
“Because Daniel taught Lila.”
I stared at her.
“At school?”
“Yes.”
“What does that have to do with Preston?”
“Everything.”
Ortiz pulled a second chair toward Vanessa.
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding through your sleeve.”
Vanessa looked at the tear in her coat as if she had forgotten it was there.
“It’s not mine.”
“Sit anyway.”
She obeyed.
That seemed to cost her something.
Vanessa had always moved through rooms like she expected them to rearrange themselves for her.
Now she sat with her knees together and both hands between them, smaller than I remembered.
Ortiz spoke quietly.
“Start with Daniel.”
Vanessa inhaled.
“He taught American history at North Park High.”
“I know.”
“Lila was in one of his classes last year.”
“She uses the Mercer name.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
“Because Daniel became her legal guardian.”
Richard leaned against the counter.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
Evelyn made a sound of disbelief.
Vanessa ignored her.
“Claire was sick.”
“What kind of sick?” Ortiz asked.
“Cancer.”
I looked toward Eli.
The word arrived too easily after everything else.
Cancer had taken Preston’s father.
Cancer had apparently chased Claire too.
Life could be unimaginative that way.
Vanessa continued.
“Claire and Daniel were cousins.”
“First cousins?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn’t Lila placed with her father?”
Vanessa looked at me.
May you like
“Because Claire never wanted Preston to know she existed.”
That answer felt more believable than anything else Vanessa had said.
