Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE FOR LEO
The guesthouse belonged to a shell company connected to Simon Vale.
I walked into Leo’s prepared bedroom and felt sick.
Blue curtains.
His favorite night-light.
The same brand of diapers.
Someone had copied his routine in a binder labeled TRANSITION.
The first pages listed the wedding date and Richard’s planned medical emergency.
Then came instructions:
Limit father-child contact until stable.
No visits from Anna Reyes.
Use phrase “temporary safety plan.”
In the desk investigators found a passport application for Leo carrying Richard’s forged signature.
A federal agent joined the case.
Vanessa had not only planned to control Leo.
She had prepared to move him.
That afternoon police found Pete Larkin hiding at his brother’s fishing cabin.
When Ortiz showed him the recovered brake assembly, he broke.
“She told me to weaken it,” he whispered.
Richard turned away.
Pete admitted Vanessa paid him to damage Claire’s brake line enough to cause a warning or small failure.
Instead, Claire crashed on an icy road and died.
Afterward Vanessa forced him to remove the damaged part from evidence.
“Did she want Claire dead?” Ortiz asked.
Pete shook his head.
“I don’t know. She said she wanted to scare her.”
To Richard, the distinction meant nothing.
Then Pete said something unexpected.
“Claire knew someone was watching her.”
Richard looked up.
Pete explained that a week before the crash, Claire asked if anyone had been asking questions about her car. She mentioned a woman from the charity board who kept appearing wherever she went.
“Vanessa?” Richard asked.
Pete nodded.
Then he reached into his coat.
“There’s something else.”
It was a key to a metal lockbox.
Inside the box police found an envelope addressed to Richard.
Claire’s handwriting was on the front.
Richard stared at it for several seconds before touching it.
May you like
Pete swallowed.
“She gave it to me nine days before she died.”
