Chapter 7
Daniel watched the video with Sophie pressed against his side.
Rachel looked frightened, but her voice was steady.
“Victor is coming tonight,” she said. “He knows we found Grace. Vanessa agreed to help me expose him.”
The camera shifted.
Vanessa appeared beside her.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
“I stole from Daniel,” she admitted. “Victor promised to return my daughter if I paid him. Every time I gave him money, he demanded more.”
Rachel reached for her hand.
“We’re ending this tonight.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“You were working together?”
“For the last two days of her life.”
“Then why did the recording sound like you were fighting?”
“Because Victor was listening through my phone. Rachel wanted him to believe we had turned against each other.”
The video continued.
Rachel explained that she would pretend to have the financial evidence. Vanessa would lead Victor to the house. Police were supposed to be waiting nearby.
But the police never came.
“One of Victor’s people was inside the department,” Vanessa said. “He intercepted Rachel’s call.”
Daniel remembered the gunshots at the protected apartment.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
On the video, Rachel stood and moved toward the stairs.
A loud crash sounded off camera.
Then Victor’s voice shouted from upstairs.
The image shook.
Vanessa ran toward him.
Rachel grabbed the tablet and whispered, “If Sophie finds this, tell Daddy the truth.”
The video ended.
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“The audio recording captured you shouting at Rachel.”
“Victor ordered me to push her. I refused. Rachel ran for the phone she had hidden upstairs.”
“You followed her.”
“I tried to stop Victor.”
Vanessa’s voice broke.
“He caught Rachel at the basement door. She fought him. I grabbed his coat, but he threw me into the wall.”
“Did he push her?”
Vanessa looked at Sophie.
Sophie’s eyes filled with fear.
“I saw Aunt Vanessa’s hands,” she whispered.
Vanessa knelt several feet away.
“Yes, sweetheart. You saw my hands on your mother.”
Daniel stepped in front of Sophie.
Vanessa continued quickly.
“Rachel was falling. I caught her wrists. I tried to pull her back.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“But Victor stepped on my hand.”
She held out her left hand.
A thick scar crossed two fingers.
“I lost my grip.”
Sophie began to cry.
“You said I was confused.”
“I was scared Victor would kill you if you talked.”
“You hurt my arm.”
“I know.”
“You told me Mommy couldn’t protect me.”
Vanessa lowered her head.
“I became cruel because I thought fear would keep you quiet. There is no excuse for that.”
Grace watched her mother from the other side of the shelter.
“Are you really my mom?”
Vanessa looked up.
All the hardness left her face.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come for me?”
“I never stopped trying.”
Grace did not move closer.
Above them, something heavy struck the floor.
Victor’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Vanessa!”
She grabbed the tablet.
“There’s another exit.”
“What about Torres and Evelyn?” Daniel asked.
“Victor will use them to trade for the real drive.”
Daniel took out his phone.
There was still no signal.
Vanessa led them through a second tunnel into the woods.
They emerged behind an old barn.
A police cruiser waited near the road.
Relief rushed through Daniel.
Then the driver stepped out.
It was Captain Harris, Detective Torres’s supervisor.
Vanessa froze.
“That’s him.”
Harris raised his gun.
“You should have stayed in the shelter.”
May you like
Daniel finally understood.
The man leading Rachel’s investigation had been working for Victor from the beginning.
