Chapter 9 - The Road
Ortiz told me not to go.
I went anyway.
She followed.
Blackwater Road twisted through woods thirty miles outside the city.
Rain had started.
Of course it had.
The same kind of cold rain that fell the night Claire died.
We found the SUV near the old stone bridge.
Driver’s door open.
Engine running.
No Graham.
No Vanessa.
Ortiz drew her weapon.
I called Vanessa’s name.
A weak voice answered from the ditch.
We found her below the guardrail, muddy and shaking but conscious.
“He took my phone,” she said.
I stared at her.
Every part of me wanted answers.
Every part of me hated her.
But she looked terrified.
“Where is Graham?”
“He went to the old pump house.”
“Why?”
“He hid documents there after Claire’s crash.”
Ortiz looked at me. “Stay with her.”
I followed anyway.
The pump house was fifty yards into the trees.
Inside, Graham stood beside a metal barrel full of burning paper.
I lunged for it.
He shoved me back.
“You always were sentimental.”
I hit the barrel with a shovel and knocked it over.
Burning papers scattered across the wet floor.
Ortiz rushed in behind me.
“Hands where I can see them!”
Graham laughed.
“You arrest me, you lose the truth.”
“Try me,” Ortiz said.
He raised his hands.
Then he looked at me.
“Ask Vanessa who changed Claire’s medication.”
I turned.
Vanessa stood in the doorway.
Her face collapsed.
“No.”
Graham smiled.
“She did.”
Vanessa shook her head. “I was told it was a sleep aid.”
“You gave it to her,” he said.
“I was twenty-six. You told me she was unstable.”
“You still gave it to her.”
Ortiz cuffed Graham.
I stared at Vanessa.
“Did you drug my wife?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I gave her two doses. Then I realized what he was doing. I warned Claire.”
“Then why didn’t you go to police?”
“Because Graham had records showing I bought the medication.”
My voice turned cold. “And after Claire died?”
“I ran.”
“You came back.”
She looked at me.
“That was supposed to be the part where I fixed it.”
I laughed once, bitterly.
“You moved into my house.”
“Yes.”
“You got engaged to me.”
Her voice broke.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I stepped closer.
“Then why threaten Emma?”
She looked away.
And for the first time, I saw something worse than fear.
May you like
Shame.
“Because she found something I couldn’t let you see.”
