Chapter 7 - Vanessa Knocks on My DoorVanessa arrived at 7:10 p.m.
She was alone.
No designer coat.
No expensive handbag.
No confident smile.
Her face was pale.
She stood outside my apartment holding a paper envelope.
“I need to talk to you.”
I let her in.
Evelyn stayed beside me.
Vanessa looked around.
“You really left him.”
“Yes.”
She laughed weakly.
“I thought you never would.”
I said nothing.
She placed the envelope on the table.
Inside were photographs.
A house.
A mansion, really.
Private gates.
Pool.
Three-car garage.
The deed was in her name.
Paid in cash.
I looked at her.
“Daniel bought this for you.”
She nodded.
“How much?”
“Eight hundred thousand.”
My stomach twisted.
“You told me you were his work friend.”
“I was.”
“You were his affair partner.”
She looked away.
“Yes.”
Noah was upstairs.
I lowered my voice.
“Why are you here?”
“Because Daniel is going to blame everything on me.”
“He probably will.”
“He already did.”
She sat.
“He told me the police would question me. He told me that if I didn't disappear, I'd go to prison.”
Evelyn asked:
“What do you know?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“More than I wanted to.”
“Start with Lucas.”
She closed her eyes.
“Lucas is Thomas Reed.”
“We know.”
Her eyes widened.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know Daniel wasn't running this.”
“We know enough.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Daniel thought he was.”
I leaned forward.
“What does that mean?”
“Richard controlled the accounts.”
“Richard Mercer.”
“Yes.”
“And Thomas?”
“He handled the people.”
“What people?”
“Contractors. Government officials. Brokers.”
“Marcus Vale?”
She nodded.
“Marcus was the bridge.”
“To the redevelopment contracts?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the photographs.
“Why did Daniel pay you?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Because I wasn't just his mistress.”
I waited.
“I was his insurance.”
“What?”
“He told me things.”
“What things?”
“Everything he was afraid you would discover.”
She pulled out her phone.
“Messages.”
Hundreds.
Daniel admitting the shell companies.
Daniel discussing transfers.
Daniel talking about Richard.
Daniel discussing my father.
Then one message stood out.
Claire will never understand the second account.
I looked at Vanessa.
“What is the second account?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
She looked directly at me.
“I swear.”
“What were you told?”
“That your father created it.”
I froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel said your father had money he couldn't access.”
“When?”
“Two months before your father died.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She had stopped moving.
“What?”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“Daniel said your father was moving money without him.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It didn't to me either.”
“Then why did you believe him?”
“Because I saw the accounts.”
Evelyn took the phone.
“These records are genuine.”
Vanessa nodded.
“There's more.”
She opened another folder.
It contained hotel bookings.
Flights.
Private meetings.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Helen Carter.
I stared.
“My mother.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Your mother met Richard six times.”
“My mother died twelve years ago.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the dates.
They were all after her death.
“That's impossible.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Exactly.”
The door buzzer sounded.
We all froze.
Another buzz.
Then the building intercom crackled.
A man's voice came through.
“Claire Carter?”
I knew the voice.
It was the same voice from the storage unit.
The man who had warned me.
Evelyn moved toward the door.
“No.”
“Who is it?”
She looked through the security camera.
Her face changed.
“Richard.”
Vanessa stood.
“No.”
Richard spoke through the intercom.
“I need to see Claire.”
Evelyn answered.
“You need to leave.”
“I don't have time.”
“Neither do we.”
Richard said:
“If Claire opens that door, I can tell her who really killed her father.”
Everything inside me went cold.
My father had been declared dead from a heart condition.
No investigation.
No suspicion.
Nothing.
I walked to the door.
“Did you kill him?”
Silence.
Then Richard said:
“No.”
I waited.
“But I know who did.”
Vanessa began crying.
Evelyn grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
Richard continued.
“And Claire?”
“Yes?”
“Your husband knows.”
I stared at the door.
Then the lights in the apartment went out.
Someone had cut the power.
A second later, the hallway filled with shouting.
Richard yelled:
“Get away from the windows!”
Gunfire cracked downstairs.
Vanessa screamed.
Noah shouted my name from upstairs.
I ran toward him.
Then I heard Evelyn yell:
“Claire, don't open that door!”
Too late.
The bedroom door swung inward.
A man stood in the hallway.
Not Richard.
Not Daniel.
Someone I had never seen before.
May you like
He was holding Noah's backpack.
And inside it was the key to Unit 714.
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