Chapter 12 - THE OLD ACCIDENT
The old crash file reopened.
Vanessa denied being anywhere near Isabella that night.
Her attorney called the plate coincidence meaningless.
Maybe it was.
Then detectives pulled toll records.
Vanessa's SUV had crossed a bridge forty miles from Isabella's crash site less than an hour earlier.
That still did not prove anything.
Adrian wanted proof.
Maria wanted distance.
She asked to leave the estate once police finished her statement.
Adrian stopped her in the foyer.
"Please don't go."
She looked at him.
"Mr. Cole, your fiancée almost killed your son and tried to send me to jail. I need to breathe somewhere that isn't this house."
He lowered his eyes.
"You're right."
Then he said, "I'm sorry I believed her for even one second."
Maria looked toward Oliver sleeping in Ramon's arms.
"You were scared."
"That isn't an excuse."
No, it wasn't.
But she appreciated that he knew it.
Maria went to her sister's apartment.
At noon, detectives called.
They had recovered the wildlife camera memory card.
Not from Vanessa.
From Claire.
She had hidden it in the lining of her suitcase.
Claire admitted she removed it after the pool incident because Vanessa ordered her to.
The card contained more than the pool.
The camera had been recording for six days.
Three nights earlier, Vanessa met someone beside the east hedge.
A man in a dark jacket.
She handed him an envelope.
The man gave her a small metal box.
Ramon recognized him immediately.
"That's Dr. Peter Hale."
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Adrian knew the name too.
Peter Hale had been the mechanic who inspected Isabella's car after her fatal crash.
