Chapter 18 - The Lie About Emily
Daniel met Vanessa only in a monitored interview room with both attorneys present. She wore a plain gray sweater and looked nothing like the woman in the red gown.
"I didn't kill Emily," she said before he sat down.
"I didn't ask that."
"You're thinking it."
Daniel kept his voice quiet. "What do you know about her records?"
Daniel had imagined this confrontation many times. In some versions he shouted. In others he produced a document that made Vanessa confess everything. The actual room was dull, and the air-conditioning was too cold. Vanessa looked tired, but he couldn't tell how much of that tiredness was genuine. When she spoke about protecting their future, he remembered her correcting Lily's table manners in front of guests and calling the child ungrateful when she cried. Those weren't small misunderstandings. They were choices. He understood at last that he didn't need to determine whether Vanessa had ever loved him. He needed to protect his daughter from what Vanessa had done.
Vanessa looked toward her lawyer, who gave a restrained shake of his head. She continued anyway.
"Robert asked me to find out what Emily had copied. He said her doctor had given him an inventory of her personal effects. I thought there was a medical report among them."
"You met Robert after Emily died."
"That's true. He told me about it later."
"So you don't know anything about her treatment. You know what Robert told you."
Vanessa's shoulders dropped.
"I know I made Lily afraid of me," she said. "I know I used the things she loved to control her."
For a moment Daniel thought he heard remorse. Then she added, "But I was trying to protect what we could have had."
"You threatened a child because you wanted access to her inheritance."
"Robert promised me half the Northstar accounts if I got you to sign. I was supposed to make you dependent on me, not hurt anyone."
"Who pushed Nora?"
Vanessa stared at the table.
"Pike did," she whispered. "I argued with Nora. He came out from behind the hedge, grabbed her, and threw her into the pool. I froze. Then he told me to keep quiet."
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Daniel stood to leave.
"One more thing," Vanessa said. "Pike kept a copy of Lily's video before the police got it. He knows exactly what she saw."
