Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK
Vanessa looked fragile in the hospital bed.
Bandage around her forehead.
Bruises along one arm.
Tears in her eyes.
Maya trusted none of it.
Ethan stood beside Detective Ortiz.
“Where’s Grant?”
Vanessa whispered, “I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He made me do it.”
Maya almost laughed.
“Of course he did.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“You have no idea what he’s capable of.”
“You pushed a baby into a swimming pool.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I was supposed to make it look like the stroller slipped.”
Ethan went completely still.
There it was.
The admission.
Ortiz leaned forward.
“You pushed the stroller?”
Vanessa realized too late what she had said.
“I—”
“You just admitted it.”
“He threatened me.”
“Why?”
Vanessa began sobbing.
“Because of the money.”
Ethan’s voice shook.
“What money?”
“Claire found out.”
Maya watched her carefully.
Vanessa continued.
“Grant had been taking money from one of the trust accounts for years. He needed someone inside the firm to approve transfers.”
“You,” Ethan said.
Vanessa nodded.
“At first it was small.”
“How small?”
“Fifty thousand. Then two hundred. Then more.”
“How much?”
Vanessa whispered, “Almost six million.”
Ethan staggered back.
“And Claire discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“Did Grant kill her?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Answer him,” Ortiz said.
“I don’t know.”
Maya stepped closer.
“You do.”
Vanessa snapped, “I wasn’t there!”
“Then why did Claire know about your ring?”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Maya knew she had hit the truth.
“You met Claire.”
Vanessa looked toward the door.
Ortiz blocked it.
“When?”
Vanessa’s voice was barely audible.
“The night before she died.”
Ethan stared.
“What did you do?”
“I warned her.”
“About Grant?”
“Yes.”
Maya frowned.
“Why would you warn her if you were helping him?”
“Because I wanted out.”
Ethan’s voice dropped.
“Did Grant sabotage Claire’s car?”
Vanessa began crying harder.
“I don’t know.”
Then the heart monitor beside her suddenly screamed.
Vanessa grabbed her throat.
Her eyes widened.
A nurse rushed in.
“She can’t breathe!”
Vanessa’s body jerked.
Doctors flooded the room.
Maya was pushed into the hallway.
“What happened?”
A nurse checked the IV.
Her face changed.
“Turn this off.”
Ortiz looked sharply at her.
“Why?”
“There’s something in the line that shouldn’t be there.”
Maya turned toward the end of the corridor.
A man in dark medical scrubs pushed through a stairwell door.
She caught only a glimpse.
But she recognized his walk.
“Grant.”
She ran.
By the time she reached the stairs, he was gone.
On the landing lay a discarded hospital badge.
And beside it—
A photograph of Claire Caldwell’s wrecked car.
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On the back, someone had written:
SHE WAS FIRST.
