Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE RAIN
Daniel caught Vanessa before she reached the kitchen.
She fought him with a fury I had never seen.
“Get your hands off me!”
“Stop resisting,” he said.
“You work for me!”
“No,” Daniel replied. “I work for Mr. Carter.”
Lily pressed herself against my side.
I crouched until we were eye to eye.
“You’re safe.”
She nodded, but her breath came too quickly.
“What do you remember?”
“It was raining.”
Her voice was tiny.
“Mommy picked us up from Grandma’s house.”
Ethan looked confused.
He had been only three.
Lily had been four.
“She stopped by the road because a woman waved at her,” Lily continued.
“What woman?”
Lily pointed at Vanessa.
The entire room froze.
Vanessa stopped fighting.
“That’s impossible.”
Lily covered her ears.
“You had a red umbrella.”
“I had never met you.”
“You said Mommy’s tire was flat.”
Vanessa’s face went white.
Robert leaned forward.
“Keep going, Lily.”
“She got out.”
Lily squeezed her eyes shut.
“You yelled.”
“What did she yell?” I asked.
Lily’s lips trembled.
“She said, ‘You stole from my children.’”
Vanessa jerked against Daniel’s grip.
“She’s repeating something she heard.”
“No,” Lily whispered. “Then you pushed Mommy near the road.”
My stomach turned.
The police report said Rachel lost control on wet pavement.
No witnesses.
No sign of another vehicle.
But Lily remembered one.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“Vanessa said bad men would take Ethan if I talked.”
I looked at the woman I had brought into my home.
The woman who had tucked my children into bed.
The woman who had kissed me goodnight.
“You threatened a four-year-old.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“You have no proof.”
Robert tapped the red file.
“I have enough to reopen the case.”
A siren sounded in the distance.
Vanessa smiled again.
Not relieved.
Amused.
“You still don’t understand.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Check the security feed.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
His expression changed.
“What?”
May you like
“The east gate camera is down.”
Then the lights inside the mansion went black.
