Chapter 13 - No Place to Hide
Tessa woke Clara with her car keys already in hand. "We're moving tonight."
"Emma just fell asleep."
"Someone posted our address. Marisol says there's a family shelter with private apartments and security. We can go there while police investigate."
Clara hated the idea of packing Emma's things again. She hated even more that Vanessa had forced fear into an ordinary street where neighbors walked dogs and children rode bicycles.
Adrian called Tessa, not Clara. "I will pay for a safe place if you need one. No conditions. I won't ask where it is."
Tessa hesitated. "I'll tell her."
Clara accepted the help only after Marisol arranged for payments to go through the shelter. She did not want an address Adrian might pass along by accident, not even to his sister.
At the construction office, Adrian gathered his supervisors. Rumors about the video had spread through the crews. He did not ask them to defend him.
"I hit my wife," he said. "The video of that is genuine. I have reported my actions, and I am getting help. What you see online about Clara hurting our baby is false. The police have the complete recording."
A foreman named Calvin looked him in the eye. "My sister went through something like that. I hope you mean what you're saying."
"I do," Adrian replied. "And I know words aren't enough."
Afterward Ruth called. The accountant had located a storage unit rented by Briarfield Supply. Its monthly bill was paid from Olivia's trust. A court order would be needed to get inside.
Adrian asked whether the storage company had footage of anyone using it.
"Yes," Ruth said. "The clerk remembers your sister. She came in this morning with a moving truck."
The security camera showed Vanessa carrying a metal file box into the truck.
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And standing beside her, helping load it, was the woman named as the second witness in her court petition.
HE SLAPPED THE WOMAN WHO SAVED HIS BABY |
