Chapter 14 - The Car at the Gate
I ran to the window.
Vanessa’s SUV shot backward down the circular drive.
A large black suitcase was visible through the rear glass.
Benjamin was already on the phone.
“Do not follow her.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
I was absolutely planning to.
Maya moved faster than I did and stood in front of the door.
“No.”
“She took something.”
“We call the sheriff. We preserve the scene. We do not create a car chase.”
I hated that she was right.
Within twenty minutes, two deputies arrived.
One photographed the office.
The other took statements.
The marker on the wall looked childish up close.
That made it more disturbing.
Dad’s desk had been scratched where someone dragged the safe away from the wall.
“Was the safe trust property?” a deputy asked.
Benjamin nodded. “The safe and potentially its contents.”
“What was inside?”
“We don’t know.”
I did.
Or at least I knew one thing.
“My father kept my baby photos in there.”
Everyone looked at me.
I pointed toward the empty space.
“Not because they were valuable. After the divorce, he was scared boxes would get lost when people moved. He kept old photos and a few letters in that safe.”
My voice cracked.
For the first time all day, the legal language stopped mattering.
Affidavits.
Trusts.
Transfers.
Orders.
Somewhere in Vanessa’s SUV was the last birthday card Dad had written me before he died.
I started crying.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
Just sudden, ugly grief.
Maya put an arm around me.
“I’m sorry.”
I wiped my face.
“I want her found.”
The deputy nodded. “We put out a notice for the vehicle.”
Kyle arrived ten minutes later.
He looked around the office.
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
He stared at the empty safe.
Then he swore.
“What?”
Kyle walked to the bookcase.
He pulled out a false-bottom drawer I had never known existed.
Empty.
“She kept cash there.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. A lot.”
Benjamin asked, “From where?”
Kyle shook his head.
“She used to say Thomas kept emergency cash. I always assumed it was his.”
Another deputy entered the room.
“We located the SUV.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“Parking garage near the airport.”
Benjamin went still.
“Is she there?”
“No.”
“Suitcase?”
“Gone.”
The deputy continued.
“Airport police are checking outbound flights.”
Kyle pulled out his phone.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
“She texted me.”
He showed us.
You chose her. Don’t contact me again.
Below the text was a photo.
Vanessa standing in an airport restroom mirror with the black suitcase beside her.
On top of the suitcase was my father’s small metal lockbox.
The one from inside the safe.
I zoomed in.
There was a baggage tag visible.
Flight 287.
Maya searched.
“Flight 287 leaves in forty-six minutes.”
“For where?”
She looked up.
“Toronto.”
Benjamin was already dialing.
Then another message arrived from Vanessa.
May you like
This one was sent to me.
Tell your dead mother she finally won.
