Chapter 7 - SOMEONE INSIDE THE HOUSE
Police surrounded the Bennett property.
Every door was checked.
Every window examined.
There was no obvious sign of forced entry.
That frightened Ethan more.
Someone had entered without breaking anything.
Someone knew the house.
Rachel reviewed the security system.
At 4:12 that morning, three cameras went offline for exactly ninety-two seconds.
The alarm never activated.
“Vanessa knew the code.”
Ethan paced the living room.
“We changed it.”
“Then either she guessed the new one or someone else has access.”
Claire looked toward the stairs.
“The housekeeper?”
“Maria has worked here for seven years.”
Rachel shook her head.
“We’re checking everyone.”
Ethan hated the suspicion.
But he hated the photograph more.
Sophie had been asleep beside him when it was taken.
Someone had stood inside the bedroom.
Close enough to photograph his daughter.
He had not awakened.
That afternoon, officers discovered something beneath the security panel.
A second wireless transmitter.
Someone had installed it months earlier.
It allowed remote access to parts of the system.
Vanessa had prepared for this.
Perhaps long before Ethan became suspicious.
Sophie and Ethan moved temporarily to Claire’s house.
Police remained nearby.
For two days, nothing happened.
On the third morning, Rachel called.
Vanessa’s car had been found near Los Angeles International Airport.
Her passport had not been used.
The vehicle contained cash.
Clothes.
A second set of identification.
And a photograph of Lucy.
On the back was an address in Ventura.
Police searched it.
They found Lucy.
Alive.
She had been hiding in the home of an old friend.
Ethan met her at the station.
Lucy Grant was twenty-four now.
She looked exhausted.
She stared at Ethan for several seconds before speaking.
“You look like Emily described you.”
“You knew my wife?”
Lucy nodded.
“She tried to help me.”
“What happened after you disappeared?”
Lucy looked toward Rachel.
Then back at Ethan.
“Vanessa found out Emily had the evidence.”
“How?”
“I made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“I called Emily from my school.”
Vanessa had access to Lucy’s phone records.
She discovered the call.
Lucy panicked.
She ran.
For years, she moved from place to place.
She believed Vanessa was watching her.
“Why didn’t you go to police?”
“I tried once.”
“What happened?”
“Vanessa sent me a photograph of the officer’s daughter leaving school.”
Ethan stared at her.
“She threatened his child?”
“She didn’t need to say anything.”
Lucy wiped her eyes.
“That’s what Vanessa does.”
She looked at Ethan.
“She learns what you love.”
“And then?”
“She makes it the reason you obey.”
Ethan thought of Sophie.
Lucy continued.
“When Vanessa married you, I knew why.”
“Emily’s evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three times.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I never received anything.”
Lucy looked confused.
“I sent letters.”
“To the Malibu house?”
“Yes.”
Ethan remembered Vanessa handling the mail.
His stomach twisted.
“She intercepted them.”
Lucy nodded slowly.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Emily contacted me after she became sick.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“She told me Vanessa had visited her.”
“When?”
“About four months before she died.”
“Where?”
“At the hospital.”
Ethan shook his head.
“That’s impossible.”
“It happened.”
“What did Vanessa want?”
“The documents.”
“Did Emily give them to her?”
“No.”
Lucy looked down.
“Emily said Vanessa threatened Sophie.”
Ethan’s face went numb.
Sophie had been a baby.
“She threatened my daughter?”
“Yes.”
Ethan stood abruptly.
Rachel placed a hand on his shoulder.
Lucy reached into her bag.
“Emily gave me something.”
She removed an old voice recorder.
“I’ve kept it for seven years.”
Ethan stared at it.
May you like
“What’s on there?”
“The last conversation Emily and Vanessa ever had.”
