Chapter 3
Vanessa did not deny making the call.
She changed the story.
By the time two officers reached the second floor, she was crying.
"Grace broke in through the side door," she said. "She attacked me. I grabbed the bat because I was afraid for Lily."
Grace stared at her.
"You were chasing our daughter."
"Our daughter?" Vanessa snapped. "You lost custody."
Daniel flinched.
That sentence had once sounded like proof.
Now it sounded rehearsed.
Officer Elena Ruiz asked for the recorder.
Daniel handed it over.
Vanessa immediately said, "I want my attorney."
Ruiz nodded. "That is your right."
The second officer checked the bat, photographed the dent in the hallway wall, then asked Lily if she could tell them what happened.
Grace started to answer for her.
Lily touched her arm.
"I can."
The four-year-old looked at the floor.
"Vanessa found my recorder."
"Why did you have one?" Ruiz asked gently.
"Mommy gave it to me."
Daniel turned.
Grace closed her eyes.
"I gave it to her before the court stopped my visits."
"You put a recorder on a four-year-old?"
"I gave her a way to remember things when adults told her she was confused."
Daniel wanted to be angry.
He could not.
Because he had been one of those adults.
Lily pointed toward the bedroom at the end of the hall.
"She wanted the red box."
Vanessa's crying stopped.
Daniel noticed.
"What red box?"
Lily looked at Grace.
Grace whispered, "I don't know."
Vanessa said too quickly, "There is no box."
Mason stepped toward the room.
"Sir, that door is locked."
Daniel had never seen it locked before.
It was the old nursery.
Vanessa had told him she used it for storage.
"Open it."
"I don't have the key," Vanessa said.
Daniel looked at her.
"You remodeled this entire floor."
"I said I don't have it."
Mason knelt beside the lock.
"Then we document the door and wait for a warrant."
Lily tugged Daniel's sleeve.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"She keeps the key in your study."
Daniel's stomach dropped.
"Where?"
Lily whispered four words.
May you like
"Behind Mommy's old picture."
And Vanessa suddenly stopped pretending to cry.
