Chapter 6 - The Woman Coming on Friday
Detective Ortiz called the Tennessee number printed on the caregiver form. A woman named Renée Bell answered on the third ring.
“I'm Vanessa's sister,” she said. “I'm supposed to pick up Lily for a temporary family stay.”
“Who authorized that?”
“Her father. Vanessa sent the papers.”
“Did you speak to him yourself?”
Renée paused. “I don't think I have to answer that.”
By afternoon, investigators had learned that Renée ran a small home-organizing business, not a school or licensed child-care program. The address listed on the paperwork belonged to a rental house she had reserved for one month.
There was no treatment center. There were no counselors. There was only a plan to move a four-year-old across state lines under a false authorization.
At my kitchen table, Andrea explained as gently as possible that Lily was not being sent anywhere. Her father could not simply undo the safety plan without review, and the suspicious documents were now evidence.
Lily stared at a sandwich without eating.
“Do they still have the van?” she asked.
“What van, honey?”
“The white one. Vanessa showed me a picture. She said if I cried, the driver would put Noah in a different car.”
Andrea wrote that down. I wanted to break every window in the house where Lily had lived. Instead, I cut her sandwich into small triangles and asked if she wanted apple slices.
That evening, Renée called Daniel and demanded to know why the police had contacted her.
“This was supposed to be a clean handoff,” she snapped, unaware he had begun recording the call on Detective Ortiz's advice.
“A handoff of my daughter?” Daniel asked.
“Don't act innocent. Vanessa said you wanted her gone.”
Daniel swallowed. “I never said that.”
Renée laughed without humor.
“You said you couldn't stand the fighting. She built the whole plan around those words.”
May you like
Then she added something Daniel hadn't expected.
“And she paid me fourteen thousand dollars to keep the girl until everything was settled.”
