Chapter 5 - The Night Before the Accident
Marcus arrived twenty minutes later.
Detective Ortiz met him at the entrance and took his phone before allowing him into the kitchen.
He looked as though he had not slept. His gray coat was unbuttoned, and rain clung to his dark hair.
When he saw the frozen image on the television, he closed his eyes.
“Who sent this?”
“The same person who entered the house,” Ortiz said.
Marcus looked at me.
“Daniel, I can explain.”
“Start with why you gave Vanessa Sarah’s car keys.”
“I didn’t know Vanessa then.”
“That is clearly her.”
“I knew her by another name.”
Vanessa had introduced herself to me as Vanessa Reed.
Marcus said that five years earlier, she called herself Elise Warren.
She worked as a private investigator.
Sarah had hired her.
The explanation was so unexpected that I almost laughed.
“Sarah hired Vanessa?”
“She believed someone at Mercer Global was tracking her,” Marcus said. “She wanted help collecting evidence.”
“Why would she go through you?”
“Because she didn’t trust your father, and she was afraid you would defend him.”
The truth of that accusation hurt.
I had defended my father every time Sarah questioned the company.
I had called her suspicious.
I had told her grief over her own father’s death was making her see conspiracies.
She had turned to Marcus because she expected me not to believe her.
“What evidence?” Ortiz asked.
Marcus sat across from us.
“Sarah discovered that Rainer Biotech’s early neurological trials caused severe behavioral side effects in children. Aggression. Memory loss. Hallucinations. The trials were conducted through private clinics overseas, but some participants were transferred to facilities connected to Mercer Global.”
“Why would my father hide that?”
“Because Mercer financed the research.”
I felt sick.
Marcus continued.
“Miriam Cross found the financial records. Sarah found the patients.”
“Where are they?”
“Most died. Some disappeared.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Elise claimed she had contacts who could access the vehicle logs, security footage, and internal files. Sarah trusted her.”
“Why did you give her the keys?”
“She said she needed to check the car for a tracking device.”
“Did she return them?”
“Yes. Less than an hour later.”
“And the brakes failed the next day.”
Marcus looked down.
“I’ve thought about that every day since.”
I wanted to strike him.
Instead, I gripped the edge of the table.
“You let that woman enter my life after Sarah died.”
“I didn’t recognize her at first.”
“That is impossible.”
“She changed her hair, her accent, her appearance. And I had only met Elise twice in poor lighting. When Vanessa appeared at the grief center, I thought she looked familiar, but I could not place her.”
“You attended our wedding.”
“By then I knew.”
The room went silent.
“Say that again.”
Marcus looked at me.
“I recognized her three weeks before the wedding.”
I stood.
Ortiz moved between us before I reached him.
“Why didn’t you tell him?” she demanded.
“Because Vanessa came to my apartment.”
“What did she want?”
“She showed me a video.”
His voice became unsteady.
“The video showed Sarah meeting Miriam Cross. It also showed me entering the garage with Vanessa. She said if I exposed her, she would release edited footage making it appear that I helped sabotage Sarah’s car.”
“You chose yourself,” I said.
“No.”
“You let her marry me. You let her live with my children.”
“I tried to stop the wedding.”
“You gave a speech.”
“I told you Sarah would want you to be cautious. You accused me of being jealous.”
I remembered the argument.
Marcus had arrived at my office after midnight and asked whether I knew enough about Vanessa’s past.
I had been furious.
Vanessa told me Marcus resented my happiness.
I ordered him to stay out of my personal life.
He stayed silent after that.
“Why not go to the police?” Ortiz asked.
“Because the officer who handled Sarah’s accident contacted me before I could.”
“What officer?”
“Detective Owen Briggs.”
Ortiz stiffened.
Briggs had retired two years earlier after thirty years in the department.
“He told me the case was closed,” Marcus continued. “Then he described private details from the video Vanessa showed me. He wanted me to understand she wasn’t working alone.”
“Where is Briggs now?” Ortiz asked.
“I don’t know.”
She called her team to locate him.
I returned my attention to the screen.
“Whoever sent this video has access to evidence from five years ago.”
Marcus nodded.
“Miriam.”
“She disappeared.”
“That doesn’t mean she died.”
A new message appeared on the television.
ASK HIM WHAT SARAH GAVE HIM.
I looked at Marcus.
His face collapsed.
“What did she give you?”
“Nothing.”
The screen changed again.
This time, it displayed footage from my father’s funeral.
Marcus stood near Sarah’s grave after the mourners had left.
He knelt beside the headstone and removed something from behind a loose stone.
The image zoomed in.
It was a small silver key.
I stepped toward him.
“What did Sarah give you?”
Marcus lowered his head.
“A safe-deposit key.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t have it anymore.”
“Who does?”
May you like
Before he could answer, his phone rang inside the evidence bag.
The hidden number displayed on the screen belonged to Detective Owen Briggs.
