Vanessa’s Version
Chapter 09 - Vanessa’s Version
Vanessa refused to go to the hospital.
She agreed to let a paramedic examine her wrist in the motel manager’s office, but she would not answer police questions until an attorney arrived. Ruth gave her a blanket and a cup of tea she did not drink.
Claire watched from across the room.
Without the cream blazer dress, careful makeup, and Grant’s hand at her back, Vanessa looked younger and more exhausted. That did not make her innocent. It only made her human, which was more inconvenient.
Lena arrived with Detective Bell and a criminal defense attorney named Joel Kramer. After speaking privately with Kramer, Vanessa gave a recorded statement.
She had gone to the lake house to retrieve the waiver document and copies of Grant’s financial files. Grant arrived before she could open the safe.
“He took my phone and accused me of working with Claire,” Vanessa said.
“Were you?” Bell asked.
“No. I was working for myself.”
Grant demanded the stolen recorder. Vanessa gave it to him but lied about making a copy. He locked her in the downstairs study while he searched her car.
“How did you leave?” Bell asked.
“The study door opens to the terrace. The outside handle sticks, but it is not locked.”
“Why did Grant wear your coat?”
“To make the cameras show me leaving. He walked to the marina, changed clothes in the boathouse, and drove a company truck back to town.”
“How do you know?”
“He told me. He said if I went to the police, he would claim Claire and I invented everything together.”
The bruise came from Grant grabbing her wrist when she tried to reach the alarm keypad. Vanessa did not describe further violence.
“What happened after you escaped?” Claire asked.
“I took my passport and cash from the bedroom. Then I went through the woods to a service road and paid a driver to take me out of the county.”
“Why come to Ruth?”
Vanessa looked at her. “Because Peter Mercer found me first.”
The room went still.
Peter had called Vanessa from an unlisted number and told her Ruth was in Ashford. He offered protection if Vanessa gave him the copied files.
“Did you give them to him?” Lena asked.
“No. I told him the files were scheduled to send automatically if I disappeared.”
“Were they?”
Vanessa shook her head. “But he believed me.”
Peter then warned her that Grant would sacrifice her to protect the company and that Claire would sacrifice the company to punish Grant.
Claire said, “And you decided Ruth was safer?”
“She is the only person Peter sounded afraid of.”
Ruth folded her arms. “Sensible man.”
Vanessa’s copy of the files was hidden in a storage unit under her brother’s name. Detective Bell arranged to secure it.
The files confirmed that Grant approved transfers, but several payment instructions originated from Peter’s office. Peter controlled the Delaware property company that received more than four million dollars.
Grant had stolen from Claire.
Peter had stolen from Grant’s theft.
“What did Vanessa receive?” Claire asked.
Vanessa looked down. “A condominium, travel, jewelry, and consulting fees.”
“How much?”
“About seven hundred thousand over three years.”
Abby, who had been listening from the doorway, gave a disbelieving laugh. “You say that like it happened to you.”
Vanessa flinched.
“You came to our house,” Abby continued. “You sat at my mother’s dining table.”
Vanessa said quietly, “Claire is not your mother.”
Abby’s face hardened. “She raised me. You helped my father lie to both of us.”
Claire touched Abby’s arm, but Abby stepped away.
Vanessa turned toward Claire. “Grant said your marriage had been over for years.”
“It became over when he told you that.”
“I know.”
“No, you know now. Then, you chose the version that gave you what you wanted.”
Kramer advised Vanessa not to respond.
Lena reviewed the copied files through the night. Near dawn, she found a spreadsheet labeled EDUCATION RESERVE.
It listed Abby’s trust account.
The balance should have been six hundred and forty thousand dollars, funded by her mother’s life insurance and Arthur’s annual gifts.
The current balance was twelve thousand.
Abby read the number without speaking.
Grant had transferred the money in six installments to a Mercer Restoration “land acquisition reserve.” Peter then moved most of it into the Delaware company.
Vanessa stared at the screen. “Grant told me that reserve belonged to Arthur.”
Abby looked at her. “You believed him again?”
No one answered.
Claire called Grant at six fifteen.
He picked up immediately, as though he had been waiting.
“You took Abby’s money.”
“It was a temporary internal loan.”
“She is eighteen.”
“The company needed liquidity.”
“You bought Vanessa a condominium.”
“That came from a different account.”
Claire almost admired the precision of his selfishness. “You will put every dollar back.”
“From what? You froze everything.”
“You will sell the lake house.”
“My father left me that house.”
“Your father left you many things. You treated all of them like permission.”
Grant’s voice sharpened. “Do not turn Abby against me.”
“You emptied an account created by her dead mother. You did that yourself.”
He ended the call.
An hour later, Margaret arrived at Lena’s office. She looked at the trust statements and asked everyone except Claire and Abby to leave.
Then she removed a notarized document from her handbag.
“I witnessed the first withdrawal,” she said.
Abby stared at her grandmother.
May you like
Margaret’s hands began to shake.
“And I knew the account belonged to you.”
