Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Ran
Vanessa made it through the side gate before Officer Morales caught up to her.
She did not get far.
Daniel did not follow.
Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
Megan stepped beside him.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Good answer."
Daniel looked toward the upstairs window.
Lily's curtain moved.
"I should have seen this."
Megan turned sharply. "Don't do that."
"I lived here."
"You worked sixty hours a week because Vanessa kept telling you she couldn't manage the bills."
"I believed her."
"That's not a crime."
"No. But Lily paid for it."
Megan had no answer.
The bank froze the transfer.
Before she stepped into a rideshare, she looked at Daniel.
"You'll regret humiliating me."
Daniel held her gaze.
"You did that yourself."
Her expression changed.
For one second, the polished mask disappeared.
"You think you're going to keep her?"
Daniel felt Megan tense beside him.
"She's my daughter."
Vanessa smiled without warmth.
"Biology isn't everything in court."
Then she got into the car.
That sentence followed Daniel upstairs.
"Is she gone?"
"Yes."
"For tonight?"
Daniel sat beside her.
"For as long as it needs to be."
She looked at him carefully.
"Are you mad at me?"
His throat tightened.
"No."
"Because I touched her phone."
"I don't care about the phone."
"But that's why she got mad."
"No." Daniel shook his head. "Vanessa got mad because Vanessa made a bad choice. You are not responsible for what adults choose to do."
Lily leaned against him.
A few minutes later, she fell asleep.
Daniel stayed sitting there.
At 11:47 p.m., his phone buzzed.
A cloud-storage notification appeared.
SHARED ALBUM: LILY ROUTINE
He did not recognize the account.
There were 114 files.
The first video showed the downstairs hallway.
The third showed Vanessa checking a stopwatch.
Daniel pressed his fist against his mouth.
Then he opened the final file.
It was not a video.
It was a scanned legal document.
PETITION FOR TEMPORARY GUARDIANSHIP.
Vanessa's name was listed as petitioner.
The document had never been filed.
But it was signed.
May you like
And beneath the signature was the name of a witness Daniel knew very well.
Kyle Mercer.
