Chapter 11 - The Line She Crossed
Police cars arrived in under seven minutes.
Mia sat on my bed with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while officers photographed the driveway.
The note was sealed in an evidence bag.
Daniel stood in the kitchen looking sick.
“This is my fault.”
I looked at him.
“This is Vanessa’s fault.”
“I kept defending her.”
“Yes.”
“I told you she was harmless.”
“Yes.”
“I told Mia to stop being sensitive.”
I said nothing.
He covered his face.
“I did this.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You didn’t do what Vanessa did.”
His eyes filled.
“But you made it easier for her.”
That landed.
He nodded once.
“I know.”
Officer Ramirez entered.
“We have patrol watching the house tonight.”
“Was it her SUV?” I asked.
“We’re checking cameras.”
“What about the phone?”
He hesitated.
“We obtained authorization to search for devices connected to the alleged harassment.”
Daniel straightened.
“And?”
“Vanessa wasn’t home when officers arrived.”
My stomach turned.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
“What about Scott?”
“Also gone.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“I’ll call him.”
“No,” Ramirez said. “Let us handle contact.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A text.
You always were good at making people feel sorry for you.
I showed Ramirez.
Another message arrived.
But they’ll get tired of you.
Then another.
Even your husband did.
Daniel saw it.
His jaw tightened.
“We were married eleven years.”
The phone buzzed again.
Ask Daniel who introduced him to Rebecca.
Everything stopped.
Rebecca.
Daniel’s girlfriend.
The woman he had started dating four months after our separation.
I looked at Daniel.
He went pale.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Vanessa introduced us.”
“When?”
He looked at the floor.
I already knew the answer was going to hurt.
“When we were still married.”
My hand went cold around the phone.
“You told me you met her after you moved out.”
“I lied about when we met.”
The room disappeared for a second.
Not because I still wanted Daniel.
I didn’t.
But because suddenly Vanessa’s obsession had roots I hadn’t understood.
“She was trying to break us up.”
Daniel didn’t deny it.
Ramirez looked between us.
“This may be relevant if there’s a pattern.”
I laughed without humor.
“A pattern?”
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was a video.
Five seconds long.
Vanessa sitting in a car.
Filmed tonight.
She looked directly into the camera.
“If you want the truth about your marriage,” she said, “meet me alone.”
The video ended.
A location pin appeared beneath it.
Daniel immediately said, “No.”
I looked at the address.
An abandoned garden center outside town.
Ramirez held out his hand.
“Give me the phone.”
I did.
He studied the screen.
Then his radio crackled.
An officer’s voice came through.
“We found the black phone.”
Everyone froze.
Ramirez grabbed the radio.
“Where?”
The answer came back.
“In Scott Cole’s vehicle.”
May you like
A pause.
“And there’s blood on the passenger seat.”
