Chapter 6 - THE INVITATION
Daniel stared at Sarah.
“You weren't invited?”
“No.”
“Then how did you get inside?”
Sarah looked at Detective Reed.
She had hoped she wouldn't have to reveal this yet.
“I used Michael's invitation.”
Daniel frowned.
“He's been dead eight years.”
“The invitation wasn't addressed to him.”
Sarah reached into the document pouch and pulled out an envelope.
It was identical to the wedding invitations Daniel and Vanessa had mailed.
Cream paper.
Gold lettering.
Heavy stock.
Sarah handed it over.
The name printed across the front was hers.
SARAH MITCHELL.
Daniel looked confused.
“You said nobody invited you.”
“They didn't.”
“This arrived without a return address four days ago.”
Inside had been Daniel's wedding invitation.
And one photograph.
Vanessa standing outside a restaurant.
Lucas beside her.
On the back, someone had written:
SHE'S DOING IT AGAIN.
Daniel examined the photograph.
“Who sent this?”
“I don't know.”
“Why didn't you call me?”
“I tried.”
Sarah pulled out her phone.
“I called your office.”
Daniel remembered.
His assistant had mentioned an agitated woman asking about Vanessa.
He had told staff to ignore it.
Vanessa had warned him that an unstable former employee might contact him.
Sarah saw the realization in his face.
“She prepared you not to believe me.”
Daniel looked away.
“She said a woman from Michael's old company had blamed her for his death.”
“That was me.”
“She said you harassed her.”
“I sent her one letter.”
“What did it say?”
“That Michael deserved the truth.”
Daniel sank into a chair.
Vanessa had built the lie before Sarah ever arrived.
Every accusation.
Every explanation.
Every possibility.
She had anticipated all of them.
Detective Reed turned the anonymous invitation over.
“Whoever sent this knew about the wedding, Sarah's history, and Lucas.”
Sarah nodded.
“Which means there is someone else.”
Reed's phone buzzed.
He listened to an update.
Then he looked at them.
“The real bartender is awake.”
Twenty minutes later, they drove to the hospital.
The bartender's name was Eric Nolan.
He had a bruised temple and couldn't remember everything.
But he remembered answering his apartment door that afternoon.
A delivery driver stood outside.
Then nothing.
When Reed showed him Lucas's photograph, Eric nodded immediately.
“That's him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Eric swallowed.
“I saw him before.”
“Where?”
“At the hotel.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Doing what?”
Eric looked at him.
“He was with your fiancée.”
Silence settled over the hospital room.
Eric continued.
“They were arguing near the loading dock.”
“I heard her say, ‘You only get paid when it's finished.’”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
Reed asked, “Anything else?”
Eric thought.
“She called him Luke.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
That linked Vanessa to Lucas directly.
Before anyone could speak, a nurse entered.
“Mr. Bennett?”
Daniel stood.
“Yes?”
“There's a woman asking for you downstairs.”
Daniel frowned.
“Who?”
The nurse looked uncertain.
“She says she's Vanessa Cole's sister.”
Sarah immediately said, “Vanessa doesn't have a sister.”
May you like
The nurse swallowed.
“She says she can prove she does.”
