Chapter 3
Sophie led Daniel and Detective Torres upstairs.
She stopped outside Rachel’s sewing room.
Daniel had not entered it since the funeral.
Vanessa always kept it locked.
She said the untouched room was too painful for everyone.
Now Daniel understood that grief had not been the reason.
Torres tried the handle.
Locked.
Daniel found the spare key in the hallway cabinet, but it did not fit.
Sophie pointed to the wall.
“Mommy hid another key.”
She reached behind a framed family photograph and removed a tiny brass key taped to the back.
Daniel stared at her.
“How long have you known about that?”
“Since before Mommy went away.”
He wanted to correct her.
Rachel had not gone away.
She had died.
But Sophie’s frightened face stopped him.
Torres unlocked the door.
The room smelled faintly of Rachel’s perfume.
Fabric covered the shelves. Her sewing machine sat by the window. A half-finished yellow dress still rested beneath the needle.
Daniel nearly broke.
Rachel had been making that dress for Sophie’s birthday.
Torres touched his arm.
“Take your time.”
Sophie walked to the closet and pushed aside several hanging coats.
Behind them was a narrow storage door painted dark red.
Daniel had forgotten it existed.
Rachel had painted it years ago because Sophie once called it the doorway to a secret castle.
Torres opened it.
Boxes filled the cramped space.
Most held fabric and old photographs.
One contained bank statements.
Daniel picked up the first page.
A transfer of thirty thousand dollars had been made from Mercer Construction to a company called V-Line Consulting.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
He had never signed it.
More transfers followed.
Twenty thousand.
Forty-five thousand.
Seventy thousand.
All authorized under his name.
All sent to the same company.
“V-Line,” Daniel whispered. “Vanessa.”
Torres photographed each page.
Sophie sat on the floor and pulled a stuffed rabbit from the box.
Its side had been cut open and sewn shut again.
“Mommy fixed Bunny,” she said.
Daniel recognized Rachel’s uneven emergency stitching.
Torres noticed something hard beneath the fabric.
With Daniel’s permission, she opened the seam.
A flash drive slipped out.
Sophie stared at it.
“Mommy said Bunny had to remember.”
Torres inserted the drive into an offline police laptop.
It contained financial documents, photographs, and several videos.
The first video showed Rachel sitting at her desk.
She looked exhausted.
“If Daniel is watching this,” she said, “then I was not able to tell him myself.”
Daniel lowered himself into a chair.
Rachel continued.
“Vanessa has been stealing from the company. I confronted her two weeks ago. She begged me not to tell Daniel. Yesterday, she threatened me.”
Sophie crawled into Daniel’s lap.
He held her while Rachel’s recorded image looked directly into the camera.
“She said Daniel would lose everything if I exposed her because she has already made it look like he approved the transfers.”
Torres paused the video.
“This is evidence of financial fraud and a possible motive.”
“There’s more,” Daniel said.
His voice barely worked.
Torres played the next file.
Rachel appeared again.
This video was recorded on the day she died.
“I found out why Vanessa needs the money,” Rachel said. “She owes someone named Victor Hale. He called the house this morning and said he would come for Sophie if Vanessa didn’t pay.”
Daniel stood so quickly that Sophie nearly fell.
“What?”
Torres rewound the sentence.
Rachel’s warning played again.
He would come for Sophie.
Daniel reached for his phone.
“Where is Vanessa now?”
Torres called the officers transporting her.
No answer.
She called dispatch.
Her face changed.
“The patrol car never reached the station.”
A burst of radio chatter filled the room.
Then dispatch reported that the vehicle had been found beside an empty road.
Both officers were injured.
Vanessa was gone.
Daniel tightened his arms around Sophie.
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
A package sat on the front porch.
There was no delivery driver.
Daniel opened it carefully.
Inside was Sophie’s school photograph.
A red line had been drawn across her face.
Beneath it was a message.
May you like
VANESSA OWES ME.
NOW YOU DO TOO.
