Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTO
The police arrived eight minutes later.
Detective Ryan Cole was the first through the door.
Mid-forties.
Calm voice.
Sharp eyes.
The kind of man who noticed everything before asking anything.
He watched the stroller footage twice.
Then he watched it a third time.
“She intentionally disengaged both wheel locks,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And pushed the stroller.”
“Yes.”
“Any history of mental illness?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Drug use?”
“No.”
“Financial problems?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked at the fake will.
Then the photographs.
His expression changed.
“This is bigger than the stroller.”
That was the moment I stopped thinking of Vanessa as a reckless woman.
Cole pointed to the man in the picture.
“You know him?”
“No.”
Maria leaned closer.
Then froze.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at her.
Cole said, “Who is he?”
“I do not know his name.”
“But you’ve seen him?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outside.”
My stomach tightened.
“Outside where?”
Maria looked at me.
“Your house.”
“How many times?”
“Three.”
Emma whispered, “What?”
Maria nodded.
“Last week. And maybe two weeks before that.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.
“I thought he was a contractor.”
Cole studied her.
“Why?”
“Vanessa spoke to him.”
The room went still.
I turned toward Maria.
“You saw Vanessa talking to him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Last Friday.”
I thought back.
Friday.
I’d been in Chicago for a client meeting.
Emma had stayed with my sister.
Lily had been home with Maria.
Vanessa said she had spent the day at a spa.
“She lied about where she was.”
Cole asked Maria, “What did you hear?”
“Not much.”
“Anything.”
Maria closed her eyes.
“She said, ‘He still hasn’t signed it.’”
My pulse jumped.
Cole glanced at the fake will.
“And?”
“The man said something about timing.”
“What exactly?”
Maria hesitated.
“‘Then we move to the other plan.’”
Emma grabbed my hand.
I felt her fingers shaking.
Cole looked at me.
“Mr. Carter, I need you and your family somewhere else tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because if these photos are surveillance, someone has been studying your routines.”
I looked toward the front windows.
For the first time, my own house didn’t feel safe.
Cole continued.
“Do you have a second property?”
“No.”
“Family nearby?”
“My sister lives twenty minutes away.”
“Don’t go there.”
“Why?”
“Too obvious.”
He pulled out his phone.
“I can arrange a hotel under a different name.”
Emma whispered, “Dad, I’m scared.”
I put an arm around her.
“I know.”
Cole’s partner started collecting evidence.
The fake will.
The photographs.
The folder.
Then he stopped at one bank statement.
“Detective.”
Cole walked over.
“What?”
The officer pointed.
There was a highlighted transfer.
$48,000.
From an account I recognized.
My business reserve account.
I stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Cole looked at me.
“Did you authorize it?”
“No.”
“Who has access?”
“Only me.”
Emma said quietly, “And Vanessa knew your passwords.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“She watched you type them.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw her.”
A cold wave moved through me.
Cole asked, “When?”
“A few weeks ago.”
Emma swallowed.
“She was standing behind Dad while he was on his laptop.”
I remembered the night.
Vanessa had brought me coffee.
Kissed my neck.
Joked that I worked too much.
I thought she was being affectionate.
She was memorizing my password.
Cole scanned the statement.
“The receiving account belongs to a company called Northbridge Consulting.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
He nodded slowly.
“I have.”
I looked at him.
His expression had gone hard.
“Northbridge Consulting came up in a fraud case two years ago.”
“What kind of fraud?”
“Romance scams. Forged estates. Identity theft.”
My mouth went dry.
Emma said, “What does that mean?”
May you like
Cole looked at me.
“It means Vanessa may not have chosen you by accident.”
