Chapter 16 - The Boathouse
Dad used to take us to a weathered boathouse on Lake Mercer every summer. I remembered sunburned shoulders and Vanessa teaching me to skip stones. Now she had turned it into another trap.
I forwarded the message to Moreno. She told me not to go alone. With the investigation active, officers could decide whether a safe, lawful approach was possible. I agreed. I was done treating secrets as things I had to solve with my own hands.
Vanessa appeared beside the boathouse at noon in a dark raincoat. She looked older than she had at the board meeting, but there was nothing uncertain about her voice.
"You brought people," she said, seeing Moreno's unmarked car at a distance. "Of course you did. Clara trained you well."
"Clara isn't here. I'm here because you said Dad left something."
"Dad left debts. He left me to clean them up while you played businessman in a shiny office. The foundation was never your concern until your wife started asking questions."
"Then show me the legitimate bills," I said. "Show me the repairs at Haven House. Tell me why you pushed Emma."
Her mouth tightened. "I thought Clara would catch the stroller. She always has to be the hero."
For a moment, the lake seemed to stop moving. She had admitted the essential horror: Emma was a risk she expected Clara to absorb.
"Emma isn't a prop," I said.
Vanessa's eyes glittered. "You don't get to lecture me. You hit your own wife."
"I know what I did. I'm answering for it. Will you?"
May you like
She dropped an old leather folder at my feet. Inside were copies of Dad's estate records and one unsigned letter questioning early foundation spending. Moreno approached when Vanessa started walking toward the road. Vanessa didn't run. She smiled as if this were still a conversation she controlled.
"Ask your lawyer who has the originals," she said. "Then ask Clara what she's hiding about them."
