Chapter 5 - Before the First Date
Daniel found the photograph on Vanessa's old social-media account at 2:13 in the morning.
He had not slept.
Nora was upstairs with Lena in the adjoining bedroom. Milo lay outside Nora's door as if he had appointed himself guard.
Daniel sat alone in the study that had once belonged to Emily.
He searched Vanessa Cole.
He scrolled backward.
Wedding photographs.
Engagement dinners.
Design projects.
Charity events.
Then older posts.
Three years.
Four.
Five.
A photograph from a hotel opening in Miami stopped him.
Vanessa stood near the edge of a crowded rooftop party.
She was younger, brunette then, smiling beside two women from a design firm.
Twenty feet behind her, half out of focus, stood Grant Holloway.
Daniel enlarged the image.
It proved almost nothing.
Two people at the same event.
Then he noticed the caption.
Amazing night with Mercer House. Big things coming.
Vanessa had told him she first heard of Mercer House through him.
That was another lie.
At nine the next morning, Detective Torres came to the mansion.
Nora sat on the family-room carpet stacking blocks with a child-interview specialist.
No one asked her about the pool.
The specialist's first task was simply to make her comfortable.
Daniel showed Torres the photograph.
“She worked with us.”
“Maybe indirectly.”
“She told me she didn't.”
Torres studied the caption.
“Do you know the design firm?”
“Cole & Finch.”
“Her company?”
“Her former company.”
“Did Mercer House hire them?”
Daniel called procurement.
The answer came within minutes.
Cole & Finch had completed three design consultations for Mercer House Hotels before Daniel met Vanessa.
Grant had approved two.
Daniel ended the call.
Torres watched him.
“How did you meet your wife?”
“A fundraiser.”
“Who invited her?”
Daniel tried to remember.
“It was Grant's table.”
Torres said nothing.
Daniel looked at her.
“I thought she was somebody's guest.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
The memories rearranged themselves.
Grant joking that Daniel needed to start living again.
Grant insisting he attend the Sutton Children's Foundation gala.
Vanessa seated across from him.
Vanessa knowing exactly which bourbon he liked.
Vanessa asking gentle questions about Emily while pretending not to know much.
Daniel stood.
“I need to talk to Grant.”
“No.”
“He introduced us.”
“We don't know that.”
“I know.”
Torres stepped between him and the door.
“You are useful to this investigation as long as you don't warn him about what we know.”
Daniel's voice sharpened.
“My daughter almost died.”
“And I am trying to prove who helped put her there.”
That stopped him.
Torres continued.
“Vanessa has retained counsel. She is staying at the Arlington Meridian under an emergency protective agreement. She cannot contact you or Nora.”
“Good.”
“Her lawyer contacted me this morning.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“She wants to give a statement.”
“Then arrest her.”
“She may be arrested afterward.”
“What does she want?”
“To talk about Grant.”
Daniel stared.
Two hours later, Vanessa sat in an interview room at Fairfax County Police headquarters.
Daniel was not allowed inside.
Torres called him afterward.
“Meet me at Judith's office.”
“What did she say?”
“Not over the phone.”
When Daniel arrived, Torres had a legal pad filled with notes.
Judith sat beside her.
Torres began.
“Vanessa admits she removed the ladder.”
Daniel's face went still.
“She admitted it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why—”
“Listen.”
He forced himself to.
“She claims she did not originally intend to kill Nora.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“She removed the only ladder.”
“She says she intended to scare Nora and return before dark.”
“She left a three-year-old in a pool.”
“I know.”
“She unplugged the camera.”
“I know.”
“She hid the ladder.”
“I know.”
Daniel pressed both palms onto Judith's desk.
“Then what exactly am I supposed to hear?”
Torres looked directly at him.
“She says Grant gave her the forged trust.”
Silence.
“She says he told her that if something happened to Nora, you would inherit Nora's company shares and Beacon's acquisition would become possible without Judith's approval.”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“And Vanessa believed him.”
“Yes.”
“She tried to kill my child for money.”
Torres did not soften it.
“That appears increasingly likely.”
Daniel turned toward the window.
“What does Grant get?”
“Vanessa claims Grant is in serious financial trouble.”
Judith asked, “How serious?”
“According to her, millions.”
Daniel turned back.
“Grant makes almost two million a year.”
“People can lose more than they earn.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Vanessa doesn't know. She says he told her if Beacon didn't close by the end of the quarter, both of them would be destroyed.”
“Both?”
Torres nodded.
“That's the other part.”
Daniel waited.
“Vanessa admitted she has financial exposure too.”
“How much?”
“She says nine hundred thousand.”
Daniel stared.
“In what?”
“A failed restaurant group owned by her brother.”
“Owen?”
“Yes.”
“I paid off Owen's business debt last year.”
“Apparently not all of it.”
Daniel felt sick.
Torres slid a copy of one message across the desk.
It came from Vanessa's phone.
Grant to Vanessa.
He finds out about the credit line, you're done. We all are.
Daniel read it twice.
“What credit line?”
“We're checking.”
Judith looked sharply at Daniel.
“Have you opened any new personal credit facilities?”
“No.”
“Joint?”
“No.”
Torres placed another document down.
A loan statement.
Balance:
$1,860,000.
Borrower:
Daniel Mercer.
Co-borrower:
Vanessa Mercer.
Daniel looked at the signature.
It appeared to be his.
He knew immediately it wasn't.
Before he could speak, Torres's phone vibrated.
She read the message.
Then she stood.
“What?”
She looked at Daniel.
“We just executed the warrant on Grant's office.”
“And?”
“He's gone.”
Daniel felt the room narrow.
Torres continued.
“His assistant says he left twenty minutes after Vanessa's lawyer contacted police.”
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
Then she showed Daniel the next message on her screen.
Grant's company phone had been found in a trash can three blocks from the office.
His car, however, had just crossed the Potomac heading south.
May you like
And according to highway cameras, Grant Holloway was not driving alone.
Vanessa's brother Owen was in the passenger seat.
