Chapter 4 - What Vanessa Wanted From Emma
By afternoon, the police had recovered the rest of the burned paper.
It was not a complete note.
Several sections were missing.
But enough remained to change everything.
Rachel leaves at eight.
Vanessa talks to Emma.
Get answer about Daniel.
If she cries, send Lily upstairs.
No phone.
Destroy afterward.
I read the name Daniel three times.
“I don’t know any Daniel.”
Detective Cole leaned against the wall.
“Think carefully.”
“I am.”
“A teacher?”
“No.”
“A neighbor?”
“No.”
“Someone connected to Emma’s father?”
That stopped me.
Emma’s father, Andrew, had died eighteen months earlier in a highway accident.
He had been thirty-three.
He had worked as a commercial insurance investigator.
And his middle name had been Daniel.
Andrew Daniel Harper.
I looked up.
“Andrew’s middle name was Daniel.”
Cole immediately wrote it down.
“Who knew that?”
“My family.”
“What might Vanessa have wanted to know about him?”
“I have no idea.”
Then another memory surfaced.
Three weeks before Andrew died, he had become unusually secretive.
He started taking work calls outside.
He changed the passcode on his laptop.
He placed a small fireproof document bag in our closet and asked me not to touch it.
I thought he was dealing with a confidential insurance case.
After his death, the bag disappeared.
My mother told me grief had probably confused my memory.
Vanessa helped clean our house after the funeral.
My parents had keys.
For the first time, I wondered whether that document bag had ever existed in the closet after Andrew died.
“What did your husband investigate?”
Cole asked.
“Fraud.”
“What kind?”
“Insurance claims, staged accidents, financial fraud, sometimes businesses.”
“Any cases involving relatives?”
“Not that he told me.”
Cole closed his notebook.
“We’ll look into it.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Cole motioned for me to answer.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then Vanessa spoke.
“You need to stop.”
My body went rigid.
“Where are you?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“You hurt my daughter.”
“I lost my temper.”
“You threw a hot skillet.”
“She shouldn’t have been at Lily’s place.”
My vision blurred with anger.
“She is four years old.”
“And you always use that excuse.”
Cole gestured for me to keep her talking.
“What does Andrew have to do with any of this?”
Silence.
Vanessa inhaled sharply.
“You saw the paper.”
“Yes.”
“Mom should have burned it properly.”
There was no remorse in her voice.
Only irritation.
“What did you want from Emma?”
“Something Andrew gave her.”
“What?”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“You really don’t know.”
My mouth went dry.
“If Andrew gave Emma something, it belonged to her.”
“Not if he stole it first.”
“Stole what?”
Vanessa’s voice hardened.
“Ask Dad what happened at Northlake Insurance twelve years ago.”
Then she hung up.
I turned toward Cole.
“My father worked for Northlake Insurance.”
“What did he do there?”
“He was a regional claims director.”
“When did he leave?”
“Twelve years ago.”
Cole and I stared at each other.
My father had always said he retired early because he wanted more time with his family.
He had never mentioned any scandal.
At that moment, Denise entered the room carrying a clear plastic evidence bag.
Inside was Emma’s yellow sweatshirt.
“There’s something sewn into the inside hem.”
I moved closer.
A nurse had discovered it while preparing Emma’s clothes for police collection.
Tiny stitches had been carefully cut open.
Inside the hem was a narrow waterproof sleeve.
And inside that sleeve was a small brass key.
I recognized it immediately.
Andrew used to keep it on his key ring.
It disappeared after his funeral.
Emma had been carrying it in her sweatshirt without anyone knowing.
On one side of the key was a stamped number.
417.
On the other were two letters.
May you like
NL.
Northlake.
