Chapter 9
Paul Mercer flipped first.
Lawyers know how prison smells before others do.
He admitted Vanessa hired him to access Noah’s trust.
He admitted they planned to marry quickly, then petition to remove me as trustee by claiming grief instability.
He admitted Vanessa had been building a file against Noah.
Videos of crying.
Reports from a therapist she wanted to choose.
Statements from her mother.
“She planned to argue residential treatment,” Paul said.
My vision went black at the edges.
Residential treatment.
For my five-year-old.
Because he missed his mother.
Detective Brooks asked, “What about Laura Hale?”
Paul claimed he did not know.
Nora did not believe him.
Neither did I.
But his files gave us more names.
Vanessa had contacted a former hospital pharmacist.
Ellen Price.
Ellen had lost her license after medication theft.
Vanessa paid her three months before Laura died.
The payment memo read consulting.
Ellen was found two days later.
She denied everything until Detective Brooks showed the bank records.
Then she cried.
“Vanessa said Laura was suffering. She said Daniel needed peace.”
Peace.
I hated that word now.
Ellen admitted she advised Vanessa on medication interactions.
Not murder, she insisted.
Just enough to “ease decline.”
I walked out before I heard more.
Outside, I vomited behind the courthouse steps.
Grace held my shoulders.
Noah’s trust.
Laura’s death.
May you like
The cage.
It was all one long theft.
