Chapter 4 - THE DRAWER UNDER HER BED
I paused the video.
"Zoom in."
Peter did.
The page had my company letterhead and a paragraph I could not fully read. But I could see one sentence clearly.
I authorize my wife, Vanessa Cole, to make all educational and residential decisions for Lily Cole during my absence.
"I never signed that," I said.
Vanessa laughed once. Too quickly.
"You sign dozens of things without reading them."
"Not that."
She walked toward me. "You are exhausted. You're emotional. We can talk after everyone leaves."
"Everyone has already left."
Jenna arrived twenty minutes later.
She hugged Lily so tightly that Lily finally made a sound, a broken little sob against her shoulder.
"I'm taking her to my house," Jenna said.
Vanessa stepped in front of the door. "Absolutely not."
I looked at her.
"Move."
For the first time since I had known her, Vanessa looked at me and realized charm was not going to work.
She moved.
I packed Lily an overnight bag myself.
In her room, I opened the top dresser drawer looking for pajamas. Lily stopped me.
"Not that one."
"Why?"
She looked toward the hallway.
"Vanessa checks it."
I crouched. "What does she check for?"
"Things I write."
Lily pointed under the bed.
There was a narrow wooden drawer built into the frame. I had never noticed it.
Inside were crayons, folded notes, a dead phone charger, and a spiral notebook wrapped in a pillowcase.
The first page was dated four months earlier.
IF DAD ASKS, I FELL.
The next page said:
DON'T TELL JENNA. VANESSA SAYS DAD WILL SEND ME AWAY IF I KEEP MAKING TROUBLE.
My hands began shaking.
Then a photograph slipped from the back cover.
It showed Lily standing beside a black SUV outside a building I recognized.
A boarding school two states away.
May you like
On the back, in Vanessa's handwriting, were four words.
ROOM RESERVED - SEPTEMBER 3.
