Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN SOPHIE SAW BEFORE VANESSA
-4
I took Sophie back upstairs before asking another question.
This time, Daniel came with me.
Not because I needed a lawyer.
Because I needed my brother.
Sophie sat cross-legged on the bed while I stayed beside her.
Daniel remained near the door.
“When did you see this woman?” I asked gently.
Sophie thought.
“Before Christmas.”
December.
Almost five months before I began suspecting Vanessa.
“What did she look like?”
“Older than Vanessa.”
“Hair?”
“Brown.”
“Did you know her?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Why were you downstairs?”
“I wanted water.”
“What happened?”
“I heard Daddy talking.”
“To the woman?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember what they said?”
She lowered her eyes.
“He said you were taking too long.”
My skin prickled.
“Taking too long to do what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did she say?”
Sophie frowned.
“She said something about medicine.”
Daniel and I looked at each other.
“Medicine for whom?”
“I thought you.”
The room seemed to shift.
“Why?”
“Because Daddy said you wouldn’t take pills if you knew what they were.”
I felt my stomach turn.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Sophie, did you ever see anyone put anything in your mom’s food or drinks?”
She shook her head immediately.
“No.”
Relief lasted two seconds.
“Daddy used to make your tea.”
I froze.
Every night for nearly a year, Derek had made me chamomile tea before bed.
He stopped two months ago after I mentioned I was sleeping better without it.
My pulse accelerated.
“Anything else?”
Sophie hesitated.
“The lady told Daddy she didn’t want another Emily.”
Daniel became perfectly still.
“Emily?”
Sophie nodded.
“Daddy got mad when she said it.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Don’t use that name here.’”
I looked at Daniel.
“Do you know an Emily?”
“No.”
Neither did I.
Downstairs, I heard voices rise.
Derek and Vanessa.
Noah shouted something.
Then silence.
Daniel pulled out his phone.
He messaged Luke one word.
Emily.
I took Sophie’s hands.
“You did nothing wrong by hearing them.”
“I was spying.”
“No.”
“You were getting water in your own house.”
She looked frightened.
“Daddy said listening to adults is bad.”
I felt anger again.
Not explosive anger.
The kind that becomes permanent.
“Daddy has said several things tonight that were wrong.”
Sophie stared at me.
Children still want parents to restore the world.
Even when another parent is the one who broke it.
I brushed hair away from her forehead.
“You’re safe.”
She whispered:
“Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Because Vanessa said if I told you about the other lady, you’d think I made it up.”
That made Daniel close his eyes.
Manipulation.
Months of it.
Vanessa had known Sophie saw someone else.
Which meant Vanessa was aware of the larger plan earlier than she admitted.
Daniel looked at me.
“We need to separate them.”
I nodded.
He went downstairs.
I stayed another ten minutes until Sophie agreed to watch a movie with headphones.
Then I returned.
Vanessa was sitting at the kitchen table.
Derek stood in the living room with Noah.
Marcus had moved near the front door.
Luke was on his phone.
Ethan sat at the laptop.
Daniel pointed toward the dining room.
“Claire and Vanessa. There.”
Derek laughed.
“You’re not conducting depositions in my kitchen.”
Daniel ignored him.
Vanessa followed me into the dining room.
I closed the doors.
“Who is Emily?”
Her face went white.
There was no denial.
I sat opposite her.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I heard the name.”
“From whom?”
“Derek.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“How many?”
Vanessa rubbed her arms.
“Maybe six.”
“You’ve known Derek six years?”
“Seven.”
Their affair was older than I realized.
Perhaps older than Sophie’s first day of school.
“What did he say?”
“He was drunk.”
“About Emily?”
“He said she ruined everything.”
“What was her last name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Vanessa.”
“I swear.”
She leaned forward.
“I only heard the name twice.”
“Who was the woman Sophie saw?”
Her eyes filled with fear.
“I think I know.”
“Who?”
“Marianne Holt.”
“Who is she?”
“Consultant.”
“For what?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“That’s what Derek calls everyone who does something illegal.”
I stared.
“What did Marianne do?”
“She makes problems disappear.”
“What kind of problems?”
“Medical problems. employment issues. witnesses.”
My throat tightened.
“Witnesses?”
Vanessa quickly shook her head.
“I don’t mean killing people.”
“You looked frightened when you said it.”
“Because Marianne scares me.”
“Why?”
“She knows things.”
“About Derek?”
“About everyone.”
I leaned closer.
“What did she discuss with him?”
Vanessa stared toward the dining-room door.
“He said you had started questioning financial records.”
“That was December?”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t confronted Derek about the loan until February.
“How did he know?”
“He had access to your email.”
I felt cold.
“What?”
“Your laptop. your phone backups. I don’t know exactly.”
Ethan.
I stood and opened the door.
“Ethan.”
He came in immediately.
“Derek had access to my email?”
His expression sharpened.
“Your password?”
“No.”
“Devices?”
“Phone, laptop.”
He took out a small scanner from his bag.
“When did your laptop last get serviced?”
I thought.
“Derek took it somewhere because it was running slowly.”
“When?”
“November.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Marianne arranged it.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What did they install?”
“I don’t know.”
He went upstairs for my laptop.
I turned back.
“Medicine.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“Sophie heard Marianne and Derek discuss medicine.”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Derek made me tea every night.”
She looked genuinely horrified.
That reaction frightened me.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“What did you think the guardianship plan involved?”
“Psychiatric reports.”
“Fake ones?”
“Yes.”
“But not drugs?”
“No.”
She shook her head harder.
“I’m not pretending to be good, Claire. I helped him forge the loan. I helped him hide money. I let him blame Sophie because I panicked.”
Her eyes filled.
“But I never agreed to drug you.”
I believed her.
Not because I trusted her.
Because people lie differently when defending something they have done than when discovering something they have not.
Luke entered.
He had heard enough.
“I found an Emily.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Luke placed a photograph on the table.
A woman in her early thirties.
Dark hair.
Bright smile.
Emily Warren.
“Who is she?”
Luke looked at Derek through the glass doors.
“Eight years before Claire married Derek, Emily Warren was engaged to a man named Derek Lawson.”
I frowned.
“Derek Lawson?”
“Your husband used his middle name socially back then.”
Vanessa whispered, “No.”
Luke continued.
“Emily died four months before the wedding.”
My skin prickled.
“How?”
“A house fire.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Luke looked at her.
“You knew?”
“No.”
But she was crying.
“You recognize her.”
Vanessa nodded.
“From where?”
She whispered:
“Derek keeps her picture in a locked box at the office.”
The dining room became silent.
I looked through the glass.
Derek was watching us.
He could not hear.
But he saw Emily’s photograph on the table.
His entire face changed.
Then he turned and ran toward the stairs.
Noah moved first.
“Derek!”
My husband reached the landing.
Not Sophie’s bedroom.
His office.
He slammed the door.
Ethan was already inside.
Three seconds later, we heard Ethan shout:
“Claire!”
We ran upstairs.
Derek was standing frozen beside his desk.
Ethan held my laptop in one hand.
In the other was a tiny black device he had removed from its base.
“A hardware keylogger,” he said.
My husband stared at him.
But Ethan wasn’t looking at Derek.
He was looking at the floor beneath the desk.
A section of carpet had been pulled back.
Underneath was a steel plate.
With a biometric lock.
Noah crouched beside it.
“Claire.”
“What?”
He looked up.
“This wasn’t here when I renovated your office.”
Derek moved toward the door.
Marcus blocked him.
Noah examined the steel plate.
“Someone built a compartment under your floor.”
I looked at Derek.
“What’s inside?”
He said nothing.
Ethan glanced at Emily Warren’s photograph still in Luke’s hand.
Then at the hidden safe.
May you like
And Derek finally whispered:
“You don’t want to open that.”
