Chapter 14 - VANESSA RAN
Vanessa never reached Switzerland.
Airport cameras showed her arriving at Logan International.
Then leaving through another terminal entrance.
No flight.
No rental car in her name.
She had planned the appearance of escape.
Claire understood.
“She wants everyone looking far away.”
Police searched locally.
Grant increased security.
Noah noticed.
His anxiety returned.
Claire hated that most.
Vanessa did not need to enter the house to control him.
Fear entered first.
Then a package arrived.
No return address.
Inside was the picture book.
The rabbit and the fox.
Claire’s blood ran cold.
Vanessa had taken it before leaving the mansion.
A note was tucked inside.
LIARS TEACH CHILDREN TO LIE.
Grant immediately called police.
Noah saw the book from across the room.
He began shaking.
Grant moved to remove it.
Claire stopped him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“We don’t let her own this.”
Claire sat beside Noah.
She opened the book.
The fox page.
Then she took a black marker.
“Want to change it?”
Noah stared.
Claire drew a cage around the fox.
Noah watched.
Then reached for the marker.
He drew the rabbit outside the cage.
Grant turned away to hide tears.
That night, a motion sensor triggered near the old boathouse.
Security found no one.
But muddy footprints led to the side entrance.
Vanessa knew every access point.
Police increased patrols.
Then Emily called.
Someone had broken into her clinic office.
The sealed envelope containing wheelchair logs was gone.
But Emily smiled despite herself.
“They took copies.”
“The originals are in the hospital compliance server.”
Claire almost laughed.
For once, Vanessa had stolen something useless.
Then security found another detail.
The person at the boathouse wore a size and tread pattern inconsistent with Vanessa.
She still had help.
Daniel Reeves was in custody.
Who else remained?
Grant reviewed every person Vanessa trusted.
Driver.
Attorney.
Household manager.
Then Claire remembered Dr. Peter Lang.
The neurologist Vanessa falsely blamed for medication.
He had denied prescribing sedatives.
But had anyone checked whether his electronic account had been used?
Hospital audit logs showed three prescriptions created under his credentials and canceled before pharmacy processing.
Someone had his password.
The access originated from the mansion.
One user account.
Household manager.
May you like
Martin Hale.
The quiet man who had worked for Grant’s family for nineteen years.
