Chapter 5: The Child They Forgot to Silence
Vanessa reached for the memory card, but the officer closed his fist around it.
“That belongs to my family,” she said.
“It belongs to the investigation now,” he replied.
Marcus pointed at Arthur.
“You recorded a private conversation.”
“My camera records every passenger,” Arthur said.
“You knew it was there.”
“You’ll lose your job.”
Arthur removed his cap.
“Then I’ll lose it while telling the truth.”
Vanessa turned to Daniel.
“Are you going to let your employees humiliate me?”
“They protected my children while I failed to,” Daniel answered.
The doctor stepped into the corridor.
“Noah has bruising, but no broken bones.
Whoever caught him prevented a catastrophic injury.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Hannah saved him.”
Vanessa laughed once.
“That proves nothing about what she planned.”
“It proves I was under the balcony,” I said.
“Your story says I carried him upstairs.
How did I get beneath him before he fell?”
Marcus closed the laptop.
“She could have staged the entire scene.”
“Open it again,” the officer ordered.
“No.”
“That was not a request.”
Marcus set it down slowly.
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Hannah, I have something.”
She took a small pink phone from her coat pocket.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Give me that.”
Lily recoiled.
“Grandpa gave it to me for emergencies.”
“What’s on it?” Daniel asked.
Lily’s hands trembled as she unlocked the screen.
“Mommy came into my room last night.
She said we were playing a hiding game.”
Vanessa’s voice softened.
“Darling, you misunderstood.”
“You told me to hide in the old pool house until Uncle Marcus came.”
Daniel went still.
“The pool house has been locked for months.”
“Marcus had a key,” Lily replied.
“Mommy said I couldn’t come back after midnight.”
I dropped to my knees in front of her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Mommy said you would get in trouble if I did.”
My breath caught.
Vanessa bent toward her daughter.
“You’re tired and frightened.
Hand me the phone.”
Lily put it in my palm.
“I recorded her because Hannah told me that secrets making my stomach hurt weren’t good secrets.”
I pressed play.
Vanessa’s voice filled the corridor.
“Stay hidden until Uncle Marcus collects you.
If Daddy asks, say Hannah took you there.”
Then Marcus spoke in the background.
“Once the boy is gone and Lily disappears, Daniel will sign anything.”
Daniel braced one hand against the wall.
“You planned to take Lily,” he said.
“Only for a few hours,” Vanessa replied.
“Marcus was going to keep her safe.”
“And Noah?”
She said nothing.
Daniel’s voice rose.
“What about my son?”
Vanessa looked past him at me.
“Ask Hannah why your mother left her shares to a servant.”
Everyone turned toward me.
“What shares?” I asked.
Marcus smiled.
“She really never told you.”
Daniel stared at the laptop screen as if another answer might appear there.
“My mother knew Hannah before she came to work for us,” he said.
“I met your mother twice,” I replied.
“She interviewed me.”
“No,” Vanessa said.
“Eleanor Vale chose you because she knew exactly who you were.”
Arthur’s cap slipped from his fingers.
Vanessa leaned close to me.
May you like
“You weren’t hired to care for these children, Hannah.
You were brought here to inherit them.”
