Chapter 3 - THE FIRST LIE
Vanessa recovered quickly.
Too quickly.
“Caleb said Derek’s name.”
Grant’s expression remained cold.
“Not in front of you.”
“Yes, he did.”
“No.”
Grant stepped closer.
“You were talking to security when he told me.”
Vanessa looked around.
Nobody supported her.
She laughed nervously.
“This is absurd.”
Caleb watched her carefully.
He had spent years working around frightened animals.
Horses kicked differently when they were scared.
Dogs showed their teeth.
People talked.
Vanessa talked fast.
“Derek has been acting strange for weeks.”
Grant asked, “How?”
“He’s been asking questions.”
“What questions?”
“About money.”
“What money?”
Vanessa stopped.
Grant waited.
“See?” she snapped. “This is what happens when you interrogate someone without warning.”
“You almost became a widow.”
She flinched.
Grant’s voice lowered.
“I think I’m allowed to ask questions.”
Police arrived.
Detective Marcus Reed took control of the scene.
He was gray-haired, broad-shouldered, and unimpressed by wealth.
He interviewed Caleb first.
“You sure about the driver?”
“Yes.”
“You see the other man?”
“White. Maybe forty. Scar near the left eyebrow.”
“Anything else?”
“Silver ring. Black stone.”
Reed wrote it down.
“Why’d they leave you alive?”
Caleb looked toward the shed in the distance.
“They thought the lock would do the job.”
Reed studied him.
“You ran almost two miles after that beating?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Caleb shrugged.
“Someone was going to die.”
Across the helipad, Grant heard him.
Something shifted in his face.
Reed turned to Vanessa.
“Your turn.”
Vanessa demanded her attorney.
Reed smiled.
“You’re not under arrest.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
“You can.”
Vanessa looked relieved.
“But your husband might want to hear what we found.”
She stopped.
Reed held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a small electrical connector.
“Device was wiped clean.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“But the access panel wasn’t.”
Grant frowned.
Reed continued.
“We recovered a partial fingerprint.”
Vanessa’s face remained expressionless.
Caleb noticed her right hand close into a fist.
Reed turned to Grant.
“Anyone besides maintenance personnel have access to your aircraft?”
“My pilot.”
“Anyone else?”
Grant hesitated.
“Vanessa.”
Her head snapped toward him.
“You gave me emergency access.”
“I did.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
Reed nodded.
“We’ll see.”
Then a security officer ran toward them.
“Mr. Harrington.”
Grant turned.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Derek’s apartment was cleared out overnight.”
Vanessa closed her eyes briefly.
The officer continued.
“And one of the gate cameras caught his car leaving the estate at 5:14.”
Caleb asked, “Was he alone?”
The officer looked at him.
“No.”
“Who was with him?”
The officer hesitated.
Grant’s voice sharpened.
“Say it.”
“A woman.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Grant asked, “Can you identify her?”
The officer slowly lifted his phone.
A blurred surveillance image appeared.
The woman wore a hood.
But around her wrist was a distinctive diamond bracelet.
May you like
Grant stared at it.
He had given that bracelet to Vanessa on their tenth anniversary.
