Chapter 6
The warehouse had been registered under Mom’s maiden name.
Inside, beneath a gray cover, stood Michael’s burned car.
Half the front end was gone.
The passenger side was crushed.
Looking at it brought back the worst day of my life.
I remembered Michael’s closed casket.
I remembered Vanessa holding my hand at the funeral.
I remembered her whispering that she would never leave me.
All that time, she had known.
Detective Ruiz searched the car with a forensic team.
They found an old digital recorder sealed inside the lining of the driver’s seat.
The battery was dead, but the memory remained intact.
Michael’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Vanessa, Richard stole two million dollars from the company.”
Then Vanessa answered.
“If Daniel learns I helped him, he’ll hate me.”
“You should have thought about that before giving Richard the passwords.”
“I needed money for my mother.”
“You could have asked Daniel.”
“I was ashamed.”
Richard’s voice appeared in a later recording.
“You stop Michael tonight, or I tell Daniel everything.”
“How am I supposed to stop him?”
“I don’t care. Scare him. Take the evidence. Do whatever you have to do.”
The recording ended with Vanessa crying.
It proved conspiracy.
It did not prove murder.
But the damaged passenger door contained something better.
A smear of old blood.
If DNA matched Vanessa, it would prove she had been inside the car.
Ruiz arranged to move the vehicle to a police facility.
We still had to rescue Melissa.
The old Hart factory had been empty since Richard drove the company into bankruptcy.
Police prepared a controlled delivery using a similar car beneath a cover.
I wore a wire.
Ruiz hated the plan, but Lucas had demanded to see me.
At sunset, I drove the truck into the factory.
Lucas stood in the center of the warehouse with a gun.
Vanessa was beside him.
Melissa sat tied to a chair.
Her face was swollen, but she was alive.
“Remove the cover,” Lucas ordered.
“Release my sister first.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
I looked at her.
“Did you kill Michael?”
Her expression changed.
“That was an accident.”
“You grabbed the wheel.”
“He was going to destroy everyone.”
“He was going to expose my father.”
“He would have sent me to prison too.”
“So you let me marry you.”
“I loved you.”
“You watched me cry at his funeral.”
“I loved you!” she screamed again.
The emotion in her voice sounded real.
That made it worse.
Melissa shifted in the chair.
“Daniel, the car is a trap.”
Lucas struck her.
I stepped forward.
“Touch her again and I’ll kill you.”
“You see?” Vanessa said. “This is who you really are. Violent. Angry. Just like Richard.”
“No. Richard hurts people to control them. I’m here to save someone.”
Melissa looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry about Mom.”
“We’ll deal with that later.”
Vanessa walked toward the covered vehicle.
“Open it.”
I pulled the cover away.
Lucas stared at the replacement car.
“This isn’t Michael’s.”
Police lights flashed through the broken windows.
Lucas grabbed Melissa and pressed the gun to her neck.
Vanessa ran toward a side door.
Officers stormed the building.
I rushed Lucas.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Melissa threw herself sideways.
I tackled Lucas, and the weapon slid across the floor.
Ruiz caught Vanessa near the exit.
For one second, I believed it was over.
Then the factory lights went out.
Someone screamed.
When emergency lights came on, Lucas was handcuffed.
Melissa was safe.
But Ruiz lay beside the open side door with blood on her sleeve.
Vanessa had stabbed her with a piece of metal and escaped.
Outside, an officer’s car was missing.
So was the phone inside it.
A statewide alert went out.
Melissa was taken to the hospital.
Before the ambulance doors closed, she grabbed my hand.
“Vanessa won’t run without Emma.”
“She can’t get near her.”
“She already has someone inside the police department helping her.”
“What are you talking about?”
Melissa struggled to remain awake.
“The officer who brought her home after she posted bail. I heard them talking.”
“What was his name?”
“Cole.”
Detective Ruiz, pale but conscious, heard her.
Her face tightened.
“Officer Aaron Cole,” she said. “He handled the evidence from your house.”
My phone buzzed.
Emma’s babysitter was calling.
She was crying so hard I could barely understand her.
“Daniel, a police officer came to the door. He said there was an emergency.”
May you like
“Where is Emma?”
“He took her.”
