Chương 8
Ryan gave him a flat look.
“Panicked for two days.”
“I’m telling you the account she gave.”
“And the fake slipper?”
“Part of the panic.”
“The gate?”
“Part of the panic.”
“Letting searchers go into floodwater?”
Hall did not answer.
Ryan leaned back.
“What was she planning to do with Mia?”
“We don’t know.”
That question stayed with him.
It became the worst question.
Locking Mia away was terrible enough. Staging her disappearance was worse. But both actions implied a future.
Vanessa had been buying time.
Time for what?
Hall said they had recovered searches from Vanessa’s laptop about emergency boarding schools, private behavioral treatment centers, and temporary guardianship procedures in other states.
None proved a plan.
Ryan knew that.
He also knew his wife.
Vanessa researched before buying a toaster.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“About what?”
“About where Mia was supposed to go.”
“She says she intended to tell everyone Mia had returned on her own.”
“When?”
Hall’s eyes hardened slightly.
“She didn’t provide a time.”
Ryan laughed.
His attorney whispered his name.
“I’m fine.”
He was not.
That afternoon Vanessa was arrested.
The initial charges involved unlawful confinement, child endangerment, filing a false police report, evidence tampering connected to the staged disappearance, and financial offenses that remained under investigation.
Ryan watched the news alert appear on his phone while standing in line at a pharmacy buying children’s allergy medicine.
The man ahead of him was arguing about a coupon.
The woman behind him sneezed twice.
Nobody looked at Ryan.
For three minutes his wife’s arrest was only a bright rectangle in his palm.
Then his phone rang.
Mia’s school.
The counselor asked when she would be returning.
Ryan had not thought that far.
“Not yet.”
“Of course.”
“We’re arranging therapy.”
“Whatever she needs.”
Ryan looked at the allergy medicine.
“Does she still have her desk?”
The counselor paused.
“Yes.”
“I mean, did you clear it out?”
The silence on the other end told him enough.
When Mia had been presumed dead, the school had begun making decisions.
“We boxed some personal items,” the counselor said carefully.
“Don’t tell her.”
“We won’t.”
“I want them put back before she returns.”
“Mr. Cole—”
“Please.”
The word came out softer than intended.
“We’ll put them back.”
“Thank you.”
He bought the medicine and forgot the receipt.
Two days later, Vanessa’s attorney asked Ryan to visit her.
His own attorney recommended against it.
Ryan agreed with his attorney.
Then Vanessa sent a message through counsel.
Ask him what Claire was going to tell him about Armitage before she died.
Ryan changed his mind.
The detention facility visitation room had no glass partition because Vanessa was being held pretrial in a low-security county unit while bail was contested. A camera watched from one ceiling corner. A deputy sat beyond the door.
Ryan arrived in his charcoal suit because he had come from a board meeting he was technically not leading.
Vanessa wore county-issued gray.
Her hair had been pulled into a simple knot.
For the first time since he had known her, she wore no makeup in public.
Ryan hated noticing.
She sat opposite him.
Neither spoke.
Finally Vanessa said, “How is Mia?”
“You don’t get to ask me that.”
Her mouth tightened.
“Fair.”
Ryan almost left.
Instead he remained seated.
“Why did you ask me here?”
“Because they’re going to make this one story.”
“You made it one story.”
“No.”
She leaned closer.
“They’re going to say I stole Claire’s money, Claire found out, Claire died, and then I locked Mia away when she found the proof. They’ll imply things they can’t prove.”
“Did you steal from Mia?”
Vanessa looked down.
“Yes.”
The simplicity stunned him.
“How much?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Try.”
“Six hundred from the trust. Maybe more through the company.”
Ryan stared at her.
“Six hundred thousand.”
“Yes.”
“You say it like a restaurant bill.”
“What do you want me to do, perform?”
Anger flashed between them, familiar enough to feel obscene.
Ryan leaned back.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked toward the camera.
“My father’s development project failed.”
“I know.”
“No, you know it closed.”
“What’s the difference?”
“He personally guaranteed debt.”
Ryan waited.
“I covered some of it.”
“With Mia’s money.”
“At first with mine.”
“You didn’t have that kind of money.”
“I had accounts you didn’t know about.”
“That sentence is not helping.”
“I know.”
Her voice sharpened.
“I’m not trying to help myself with you.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Vanessa rubbed one thumb along the edge of the table.
“I thought I could replace it.”
Ryan stared at her.
“There are clichés criminals should be legally prohibited from using.”
A tiny sound escaped her. Almost a laugh.
She covered her face.
Ryan hated that they could still share humor.
He hated that eleven years did not disappear just because it should have.
Vanessa lowered her hands.
“Claire found one payment.”
“Ninety thousand.”
“So you heard it.”
“I heard enough.”
“She threatened to tell you.”
“She should have.”
“Yes.”
“Did you stop her?”
“No.”
Ryan searched her face.
“Did you have anything to do with Claire’s accident?”
Vanessa looked offended.
Then she understood why he had asked.
Something in her collapsed.
“No.”
“Don’t answer fast.”
“I didn’t.”
“Were you with her that night?”
“No.”
“Did you call her?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“That I would put it back. That if she told you before I did, she would destroy my marriage over something I could fix.”
“Something you could fix.”
“I believed that.”
Ryan looked at the wall.
He wanted her to become easier to hate.
She would not cooperate.
“What happened after Claire died?”
Vanessa’s voice grew smaller.
“The police returned her belongings. I took the phone before you went through the box.”
“You told me it was destroyed.”
“Yes.”
“You kept it for fourteen months.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t throw it away.”
“That’s sentimental.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“It was evidence.”
At least she knew the word.
May you like
Ryan folded his arms.
“Why not destroy it?”
