Chapter 4 - THE PRINT
The fingerprint belonged to Vanessa.
She laughed when Detective Ortiz told her.
“Of course my fingerprint is on it.”
Maya stared at her.
“You said you never touched it.”
“I forgot.”
“You forgot?”
Vanessa sighed.
“You dropped your badge in the hall two days ago. I picked it up.”
Maya shook her head.
“That never happened.”
“Prove it.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“This is going nowhere.”
“No,” Maya said. “It’s going somewhere. She lied.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“Ethan, are you seriously listening to her?”
“I’m listening to everyone.”
“She almost killed your child.”
“I saved his life!”
Maya’s voice cracked through the room.
Oliver began crying upstairs.
Everyone stopped.
Ethan immediately looked toward the ceiling.
Maya saw what fear had done to him.
He was grieving already, even though Oliver was alive.
That was what Vanessa was using.
Fear.
Confusion.
And timing.
Ortiz stepped between them.
“We’re separating everyone for the rest of the interviews.”
Grant spoke from the doorway.
“Detective, I found something.”
He carried a tablet into the room.
“The camera system has a backup archive.”
Vanessa’s head snapped toward him.
Maya noticed.
“What kind of backup?”
“Motion-triggered thumbnails. Not full video.”
Grant opened a file.
A sequence of still images appeared.
One showed the stroller beside the pool.
Another showed Vanessa standing behind it.
Then an empty frame.
The next showed Maya diving.
Maya leaned closer.
“There.”
Vanessa’s hands were touching the stroller handle.
Ethan stared at the image.
Vanessa immediately said, “I was stopping it.”
“Stopping it?” Maya asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why is the stroller moving toward the pool?”
“You can’t tell that from a photograph.”
Ortiz zoomed in.
Vanessa’s right arm was extended.
Her body leaned forward.
But the still frame alone did not prove whether she pushed or grabbed.
Then Maya noticed something near Vanessa’s left hand.
A reflection.
A phone.
“You were recording.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“What?”
“You had your phone.”
Ortiz zoomed farther.
Maya was right.
Vanessa was holding a cell phone pointed directly toward the stroller.
Ethan looked at her.
“Why were you filming my son beside the pool?”
“I wasn’t.”
“The picture shows you holding your phone.”
“I was taking a photo.”
“Of what?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“The party.”
Maya stepped closer.
“You were waiting for it to happen.”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“That is insane.”
“Give Detective Ortiz your phone.”
Vanessa looked toward Ethan.
He said nothing.
“Give her the phone.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“I don’t have it.”
Ortiz asked, “Where is it?”
“I lost it.”
“When?”
Vanessa glanced toward the pool.
“Tonight.”
Maya suddenly understood.
“You threw it away.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Now she’s making things up.”
A security officer entered from the patio.
“Detective?”
He held a plastic bag.
Inside was a blue smartphone dripping water.
“We found this at the bottom of the pool.”
Vanessa went pale.
May you like
Ortiz took the bag.
And Maya knew whatever was on that phone had scared Vanessa enough to throw it underwater.
