Chapter 5 - EMILY'S SECRET
Police traced Lucy’s call to a motel north of Santa Monica.
By the time officers arrived, the room was empty.
There was no sign of a struggle.
Only a broken phone beneath the bed.
Rachel refused to assume Vanessa had reached Lucy.
Vanessa had been released pending further investigation and was staying with her attorney.
According to surveillance, she had not left.
That meant someone else might be helping her.
Ethan’s attention remained fixed on Lucy’s final words.
Because of Emily.
He spent the next morning searching through boxes belonging to his late wife.
Most had remained untouched since her death.
Photographs.
Birthday cards.
Medical records.
College notebooks.
At the bottom of one box, Ethan found an old envelope.
Inside were documents from a nonprofit organization where Emily had volunteered.
One name stopped him.
MICHAEL GRANT.
Ethan sat down.
Michael had donated money to the organization.
A lot of money.
Emily had worked directly with several donors.
Her emails showed she had met Michael at least four times.
Then Ethan found a handwritten note.
Michael thinks someone is stealing from him.
He is frightened.
He says if anything happens, contact Lucy.
Ethan immediately called Rachel.
She arrived forty minutes later.
“This connects Emily to Michael.”
Rachel studied the note.
“Maybe Vanessa knew.”
“How?”
“We need Emily’s old emails.”
Ethan still had access to an archived account.
They searched Michael’s name.
Thirty-seven messages appeared.
Most were ordinary.
Then Rachel found one sent two days before Michael’s death.
Emily,
I was right.
V has been moving money for months.
I confronted her.
She knows I discovered it.
If something happens to me, please make sure Lucy gets the documents.
Do not trust Vanessa.
Ethan stopped breathing.
Rachel read it twice.
“Did Emily ever tell you about this?”
“No.”
“Maybe she planned to.”
A second message appeared three days after Michael died.
It came from Vanessa.
Dear Emily,
Michael spoke very highly of you.
His death has devastated us.
I understand he may have left certain documents with you.
Those documents concern private family matters.
I would appreciate the opportunity to collect them.
Emily never responded.
Two weeks later, another email arrived.
Then another.
Then they stopped.
Ethan leaned back.
“Vanessa knew Emily.”
“Apparently.”
“She told me they had never met.”
Rachel stared at the screen.
“There’s more.”
One year after Michael’s death, Emily had forwarded an email to herself.
Attached was a scanned financial ledger.
Several transfers were highlighted.
The recipient was a shell company.
Rachel searched the company name.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“The company was controlled by Vanessa.”
Ethan stared at the numbers.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Then another email appeared.
This one had been sent by Emily to Lucy.
Lucy,
I have what your father wanted you to receive.
I believe you.
We need to meet somewhere safe.
The email was dated two days before Lucy disappeared.
Ethan felt sick.
Rachel closed the laptop.
“Emily may have been the last person Lucy trusted.”
“And Vanessa knew.”
Rachel nodded.
Ethan looked toward the ocean.
A terrible possibility was forming.
Emily’s illness had always been considered natural.
Doctors had found nothing suspicious.
There had never been any reason to question it.
Until now.
Ethan looked at Rachel.
“Could Vanessa have known Emily before she became sick?”
“We don’t know.”
“Find out.”
Rachel hesitated.
“Ethan.”
“Find out.”
That evening, Claire came downstairs holding Sophie’s old tablet.
“You need to see this.”
She opened a folder of family videos.
One had been recorded at Sophie’s second birthday.
Emily had already been gone for months.
Ethan watched himself carrying Sophie toward the cake.
Guests filled the backyard.
Then Claire paused the video.
“Look behind you.”
Ethan stared.
A woman stood outside the property fence.
Dark sunglasses.
Wide hat.
Watching the party.
Claire enlarged the image.
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
May you like
It was Vanessa.
The problem was that Ethan would not officially meet her for another six months.
