Chapter 3 - What Maria Saw
I watched the recording twice.
The second time was worse.
On the first viewing, shock protects you.
On the second, details begin to matter.
Grant knew the layout of my study.
Vanessa knew where I kept documents.
They discussed my schedule without checking notes.
And when Maria's name came up, neither of them sounded like people improvising.
They sounded like people solving a problem.
Daniel paused the footage.
“Should I continue?”
“Yes.”
“You may not like it.”
“I already don't.”
He pressed play.
Grant removed papers from the folder.
“Once you're married, the trust language changes.”
Vanessa nodded.
“And if anything happens afterward, I have standing.”
My stomach turned.
“Standing for what?” I whispered.
Daniel didn't answer.
The recording did.
Grant tapped the papers.
“Control.”
I stared at the screen.
Vanessa laughed.
“You make it sound sinister.”
“You're marrying a man worth billions.”
“I'm marrying an opportunity.”
Daniel stopped the video.
Neither of us spoke.
Then someone knocked on the server-room door.
Maria.
She'd refused hospital transport after paramedics cleared her, though Officer Ortiz had arranged for her to be examined again later.
Her eyes were swollen.
“Mr. Mercer?”
I stood.
“You should be resting.”
“I've been quiet too long.”
She looked at the frozen image of Vanessa and Grant.
“You found it.”
“You knew?”
Maria nodded.
“Not all of it.”
She sat.
Then she told me how everything began.
Six months earlier, Maria had entered my study to replace flowers.
Vanessa was inside photographing documents.
When Maria asked what she was doing, Vanessa said I had requested copies for wedding planning.
Maria believed her.
Then, three weeks later, she saw Grant leaving the side entrance at 1:40 a.m.
Vanessa told her he'd been helping with a surprise for me.
Again Maria said nothing.
“But then I heard them arguing.”
“About what?”
“Money.”
Maria clasped her hands.
“She said he was getting impatient. He said she couldn't keep pretending forever.”
“Pretending what?”
“I don't know.”
She looked ashamed.
“I should have told you.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because Ms. Vanessa knew about my grandson.”
I frowned.
“Mateo?”
Maria nodded.
Mateo was nineteen and attending community college.
“She said she could make trouble for him. She knew where he worked. Where he studied.”
My anger sharpened.
“She threatened him?”
“Not directly at first.”
Maria wiped her eyes.
“She smiled when she said it.”
That sounded exactly like Vanessa.
“What happened today?”
Maria looked toward the stairs.
“This morning I was cleaning your bedroom.”
She found Vanessa searching behind a dresser.
Maria asked whether she'd lost something.
Vanessa ordered her out.
Then Maria noticed a small black device in Vanessa's hand.
A detector.
She was searching for cameras.
“How did she learn about them?”
“I told her.”
I stared.
Maria began crying again.
“I'm sorry.”
“Why?”
“She kept asking why I looked frightened whenever Mr. Grant came. I finally told her your father believed in keeping security records.”
“And then?”
“She asked where the recordings were.”
“You didn't know.”
“No.”
Vanessa didn't believe her.
The missing bracelet appeared an hour later.
Inside Maria's handbag.
Maria knew immediately she'd been framed.
She tried to leave and call me.
Vanessa took her phone.
Then came the rope.
Then the lighter.
“She wasn't trying to burn me,” Maria whispered.
I looked at her.
“Maria—”
“She wanted me frightened.”
That distinction didn't make me feel better.
“What did she want?”
“The location of the recordings.”
Maria leaned forward.
“And something else.”
“What?”
“She kept asking what I'd told you about your medicine.”
My body went still.
“What medicine?”
“The vitamins she gives you.”
I stopped breathing for half a second.
Vanessa had become obsessed with my health six months earlier.
Supplements.
Protein powders.
Sleep aids.
She'd tease me about turning forty-two.
“You work too much, Elijah. Let me take care of you.”
I had let her.
Maria saw my expression.
“You didn't know.”
I stood.
“Daniel.”
He was already reaching for his phone.
Within an hour, my physician had been contacted.
The supplements were secured for testing.
The kitchen pantry was photographed.
Every bottle Vanessa had purchased was isolated.
Then Daniel found another recording.
Kitchen.
Three weeks earlier.
Vanessa stood alone at the island.
She opened one of my supplement containers.
Then she removed something from her purse.
A small packet.
She poured powder into the container.
My stomach dropped.
Daniel stopped the footage.
Nobody spoke.
Maria crossed herself.
I called Officer Ortiz.
This was no longer about a stolen bracelet.
No longer about assault.
No longer even about financial fraud.
Something had been going into my food.
And the woman who put it there was supposed to become my wife in six weeks.
My phone rang before Ortiz answered.
Unknown number.
I picked up.
“Elijah?”
Vanessa.
Her voice was soft.
Almost affectionate.
“You've been watching things you don't understand.”
I looked directly at the frozen security footage.
“What did you put in my supplements?”
Silence.
Then she laughed.
Not loudly.
That made it worse.
“You should have stayed in London.”
The call ended.
Ten seconds later, another message arrived.
A photograph.
My father.
Taken shortly before his death.
Underneath it were six words.
ASK MARIA WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.
I slowly raised my eyes.
Maria had gone completely pale.
May you like
And suddenly the investigation wasn't about what Vanessa planned to do to me.
It was about what might already have happened to my father.
