Chapter 9 - Grant's Version of the Truth
Grant Holloway entered the interview room in a navy suit as if he were attending a board meeting.
No tie.
No handcuffs visible on camera.
Daniel watched from behind one-way glass with Detective Torres and an assistant Commonwealth's attorney named Rachel Monroe.
Grant's lawyer sat beside him.
Rachel said, “He hasn't been charged with anything related to Nora yet.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“Yet.”
“Yet.”
Grant began by admitting financial misconduct in the smallest possible terms.
“Improper classifications.”
“Unapproved consulting structures.”
“Temporary reallocations.”
Rachel muted the feed.
“He means fraud.”
Daniel did not smile.
Grant continued.
He denied ordering Vanessa to hurt Nora.
He called the messages “reckless.”
He called the voice memo “dark sarcasm.”
Daniel nearly struck the glass.
Torres stopped him with one look.
Grant then discussed Emily.
“She became suspicious of vendor payments while she was sick.”
The detective interviewing him asked, “Were her suspicions correct?”
Grant looked down.
“Partly.”
“Did you steal?”
“My attorney has advised me not to answer that.”
“Did Vanessa Cole receive company funds?”
“She performed legitimate consulting work.”
“Did you know her before Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Did you introduce them deliberately?”
Grant paused.
“Yes.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
Not inference.
Not metadata.
Admission.
The interviewer asked, “Why?”
Grant leaned back.
“Daniel had stopped functioning as a normal human being.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“After Emily died?”
“Yes.”
“He ran the company.”
“He worked. That's not the same thing.”
“What did you want Vanessa to do?”
“Help him move on.”
“Also persuade him to sell Mercer House?”
Grant's lawyer shifted.
Grant answered anyway.
“I thought selling was best for everyone.”
“Including you?”
“Including me.”
“Did Vanessa know you wanted that when she began dating Daniel?”
“She knew I thought he should sell.”
“Was she paid?”
Grant hesitated.
“Her company had existing receivables.”
“Was she paid to pursue Daniel romantically?”
“No.”
Daniel watched Grant's face.
He knew that face.
Grant was technically answering something narrower than the question being asked.
The interviewer noticed too.
“Was money offered to Vanessa contingent on her influencing Daniel?”
Grant's attorney interrupted.
“We're done with that line.”
Then they reached Emily.
The interviewer placed copies of her records on the table.
“Emily Mercer believed you were stealing.”
Grant looked at the documents.
“She was wrong about some things.”
“Which things?”
“She believed Vanessa was knowingly involved.”
“Was she?”
“No.”
Daniel's attention sharpened.
Grant continued.
“Vanessa was a vendor. I used her invoices to move money without telling her.”
Daniel looked at Torres.
That matched Emily's uncertainty.
The interviewer asked, “When did Vanessa find out?”
“Much later.”
“How much later?”
“After she began dating Daniel.”
“And then?”
Grant said nothing.
“Mr. Holloway?”
“I told her if she exposed me, her own company records would make her look involved.”
Daniel whispered, “He trapped her.”
Torres responded quietly.
“And she later made choices of her own.”
Daniel knew.
Nothing could excuse the ladder.
Grant could manipulate her without controlling her hands.
The interviewer asked, “Did Emily ever threaten to expose you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
“What did you do?”
Grant looked directly toward the mirrored glass.
Daniel felt as though Grant could see him.
“I asked her to wait.”
“Why?”
“I wanted time to fix it.”
“Fix the theft?”
“Fix the books.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
“Did you interfere with her treatment?”
Grant's face changed immediately.
“No.”
“Did you cause her death in any way?”
“No.”
The answer came fast, angry, almost offended.
For once, Daniel believed him.
Grant looked toward the mirror again.
“Emily was dying. I was a thief, not a murderer.”
Daniel hated him for the sentence.
Mostly because it sounded true.
The interviewer shifted back to Vanessa.
“Why did you forge the trust clause?”
Grant's lawyer spoke.
“We're not answering.”
Grant lifted one hand.
“I will.”
His attorney stared at him.
Grant said, “Because Beacon needed control.”
“Explain.”
“Judith Lane would never approve the sale at the valuation Beacon offered. If Nora's shares reverted to Daniel, Daniel could accept.”
“So you made Vanessa believe they would.”
“Yes.”
“Why Vanessa?”
“Because Daniel listened to her.”
“Did you believe she might kill Nora?”
“No.”
The interviewer played the voice memo.
No camera. No ladder. No witnesses.
Grant's face did not move.
“Still no?”
Grant looked down.
“I believed she might scare Nora.”
Daniel whispered, “Liar.”
Grant continued.
“I thought she'd remove the ladder for a minute, maybe frighten the child, then put it back.”
“Why would frightening Nora make Daniel sell his company?”
“It wouldn't.”
The interviewer waited.
Grant finally sighed.
“I thought if something happened around the pool, Daniel might decide the house was unsafe and change his life. Vanessa wanted him away from Emily's memory. I wanted him emotionally destabilized.”
Daniel's hands curled.
Rachel Monroe said, “He's constructing distance.”
Torres nodded.
The interviewer asked, “Did Vanessa ever tell you she intended to leave Nora without the ladder?”
Grant paused.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The morning it happened.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What did you say?”
Grant looked toward the mirror again.
“I told her not to.”
The interviewer checked the phone record.
“We have no message like that.”
“It was a call.”
“We have the call.”
Grant's mouth tightened.
“Was it recorded?” his lawyer asked.
The detective smiled slightly.
“Not by us.”
Grant's expression shifted.
Daniel looked at Torres.
“What does that mean?”
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she opened her laptop.
“Vanessa recorded it.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“She says she was afraid Grant would deny everything.”
Torres clicked an audio file.
Grant's voice filled the observation room.
If you leave her there long enough, Daniel breaks. That's the point.
Vanessa:
She's three, Grant.
Grant:
Then don't do it. Walk away. But if you do it halfway, you get all the risk and none of the result.
Vanessa:
What result? Say it.
A pause.
Then Grant:
Daniel inherits the shares. Beacon closes. Everybody survives.
Vanessa:
Except Nora.
Silence.
Five seconds.
Six.
Grant finally said:
I didn't say that.
Vanessa:
You didn't have to.
The recording ended.
Daniel stared through the glass at the man he had called his best friend for twenty years.
Rachel Monroe closed her notebook.
“That may be enough.”
“For what?”
“Conspiracy to commit murder, depending on the rest.”
Daniel looked at Grant.
Grant's attorney was speaking rapidly into his ear.
Then Grant did something unexpected.
He laughed.
Not loudly.
Not happily.
A tired, bitter sound.
He looked toward the mirrored glass.
“Daniel,” he said.
Everyone in the observation room froze.
Grant could not see through the mirror.
But he knew Daniel was there.
“You want the truth?”
His lawyer grabbed his arm.
“Grant, stop.”
Grant ignored him.
“The pool wasn't my idea.”
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
Grant's voice remained calm.
“I told Vanessa how to break you.”
May you like
He paused.
“But somebody else told her exactly when you'd be gone.”
