Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN BY THE WATER
The address led to a small rental cottage near Point Dume.
Rachel told Ethan to stay home.
He ignored her.
He remained inside his car across the street while officers approached the property.
The cottage looked abandoned.
Curtains closed.
Mailbox overflowing.
No vehicle outside.
After several minutes, Rachel entered.
Ethan waited.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Finally, Rachel came outside.
She walked directly toward Ethan’s car.
“Lucy isn’t there.”
His disappointment must have shown.
“But somebody was.”
Rachel handed him a photograph inside a plastic sleeve.
It showed Sophie.
Ethan’s breath caught.
The photograph had been taken at a playground.
“When?”
“We’re checking.”
“Why would Lucy have pictures of my daughter?”
“We don’t know if Lucy took them.”
There were more photographs inside the cottage.
Ethan leaving his office.
Vanessa shopping.
Sophie at preschool.
The Bennett house.
Someone had been watching them.
Rachel also found a laptop.
Its hard drive had been wiped.
But whoever left had done so quickly.
A cup of coffee still sat on the kitchen counter.
A neighbor reported seeing a woman leave the cottage that morning.
She appeared to be in her twenties.
Dark hair.
Thin.
Nervous.
Possibly Lucy.
Ethan returned home before sunset.
Claire had taken Sophie upstairs.
He walked into the kitchen.
The broken glass had been cleaned away.
Yet Ethan could still picture Vanessa standing there.
He remembered their wedding.
Her laughter.
Her promises.
The way she had held Sophie after Sophie’s mother died.
Ethan’s first wife, Emily, had died from an aggressive illness when Sophie was eighteen months old.
Vanessa entered their lives eight months later.
She seemed gentle.
Patient.
Safe.
Ethan had mistaken control for competence.
He had mistaken perfection for kindness.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
“Who is this?”
A woman whispered.
“You shouldn’t have gone to the cottage.”
Ethan stood.
“Lucy?”
Silence again.
“Are you Lucy Grant?”
“You need to take Sophie and leave Malibu.”
“Where are you?”
“You can’t help me.”
“I can try.”
“You don’t understand Vanessa.”
“Then explain her to me.”
The woman breathed shakily.
“She doesn’t forgive people who expose her.”
Ethan walked toward the window.
“Did Vanessa hurt your father?”
A long pause followed.
“Yes.”
Ethan gripped the phone.
“Did you see it?”
Another pause.
“I heard them fighting.”
“What happened?”
“My dad found out she had been taking money from his company.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“He told her he was changing his will.”
“What happened next?”
“I heard him fall.”
“Did you see Vanessa?”
“I saw her standing at the top of the stairs.”
Ethan said nothing.
“She looked down at him.”
Lucy’s voice cracked.
“And she didn’t call for help.”
“Lucy, where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“She can’t control you anymore.”
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
Lucy became silent.
Finally, she whispered.
“Vanessa didn’t find your family by accident.”
Ethan froze.
“What does that mean?”
“She knew who you were before you ever met.”
“How?”
“She researched you.”
“Why?”
Lucy started crying.
“Because of Emily.”
Ethan felt the room tilt.
“My first wife?”
“Yes.”
“What did Vanessa have to do with Emily?”
Before Lucy could answer, a loud noise came through the phone.
A door opening.
Lucy gasped.
“No.”
“Lucy?”
May you like
“She found me.”
The call ended.
