Chapter 6 - VANESSA'S LAST PERFORMANCE
Vanessa was found at a private airfield forty miles outside the city. She was sitting in a black car with her passport and a one-way ticket to Lisbon. When officers approached, she tried to hand the passport to her driver and claimed she was being harassed.
Detective Singh showed her the warrant.
“You are being questioned in connection with the unlawful confinement of Emily Hale, the financial crimes involving the Hale Foundation, and the disappearance of evidence.”
Vanessa's composure cracked.
“I have done nothing wrong.”
“Then you'll have an opportunity to explain.”
At the station, Vanessa asked for Richard. He refused to meet her. She then asked for Adrian, but investigators told her he was being questioned separately.
Her lawyer advised her to remain silent.
For hours, she did.
Then the detective placed the wedding renovation invoice in front of her. It showed that Vanessa had approved the construction of the hidden compartment. A second document showed payments to the contractor through a company controlled by Adrian.
Vanessa stared at the pages.
“You can't prove I knew she was inside.”
Detective Singh said nothing.
Vanessa leaned forward. “I thought she had been moved. I didn't know she was in the wall.”
“Who moved her?”
Vanessa looked away.
The detective placed the photograph from the guesthouse on the table. It showed Adrian and the driver.
“Was Adrian responsible for Emily's disappearance?”
Vanessa's silence lasted almost a minute.
Then she said, “He told me it was temporary.”
“Temporary?”
“He said Emily had discovered the foundation transfers. He wanted time to move the money and settle the trust. He said nobody would be hurt.”
“And you believed him?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly. “I wanted to believe him. I wanted Richard. I wanted the life Emily had.”
The detective asked why she had helped hide Emily.
“Because she came back.”
Emily had escaped the guesthouse once, several months after her capture. A cleaner had left a door unlocked. She had reached the road, but Adrian's men found her before she could reach a police station. After that, she was moved to the storage property and kept under closer guard.
Vanessa admitted that she had visited Emily twice. She had told her that Richard had moved on, that the search had ended, and that the wedding would happen whether Emily lived or died.
“Why put her behind the flower wall?” Detective Singh asked.
“Adrian said it was safer than moving her again. The compartment had ventilation. She was supposed to be transferred before the ceremony ended.”
“Transferred where?”
Vanessa looked down.
“An old clinic outside the city.”
The detective's expression hardened. “You knew she was alive during the wedding.”
Vanessa began to cry, but the tears did not change the evidence.
Back at the hospital, Emily was told that Vanessa had been arrested. She did not celebrate. She only asked whether the driver had been found.
“Not yet,” Richard said.
“He knows where the ledger copies are.”
Detective Singh later confirmed that the driver had fled. Investigators believed he had taken the original trust documents from Adrian and was trying to negotiate immunity.
Richard asked whether Emily wanted to return to Hale House.
“No,” she said immediately.
“Then we won't go there.”
He arranged for her to stay at a secure recovery residence recommended by the hospital. Olivia volunteered to accompany her for the first few days, but Emily asked her not to risk her job.
“You did enough,” Emily said.
Olivia shook her head. “I did what anyone should have done.”
“Not everyone would have.”
Before Olivia left, Emily gave her the silver bracelet she had worn when she disappeared. It was scratched and bent, but the clasp still worked.
“Keep it until I can thank you properly.”
Olivia closed her fingers around it.
Across town, Adrian's lawyer contacted Detective Singh. He offered to provide information about the driver in exchange for a reduced charge.
The detective refused to negotiate informally.
“Tell your client the truth is not a bargaining chip,” she said.
That evening, Richard received a message from an unknown number.
May you like
It contained one sentence:
YOUR WIFE IS NOT THE ONLY PERSON WHO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT.
