Chapter 4: The Name She Was Hiding
“She wasn't supposed to find out who I was talking to.””
Vanessa's confession hung in the bright living room.
Naomi stood beside Lily's memorial table, one hand wrapped around the edge so tightly that her knuckles had turned white. Across from her, Marcus looked at Vanessa as though the woman he had spent months defending had suddenly become a stranger.
Detective Ross closed his notebook.
“Who were you talking to, Ms. Cole?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“I didn't mean it like that.””
“Then explain what you meant.””
“I was talking about something else.””
Detective Ellis pulled out the chair opposite Vanessa and sat down.
“Something else involving an eight-year-old child's private messages?””
Vanessa looked at Marcus.
“Please tell them this is getting out of control.””
Marcus didn't move.
“You told me you never met Lily.””
“I didn't.””
“Then why are you talking about what she was supposed to find out?””
Vanessa pressed her hands against her forehead. Her bracelets clicked together in the silence.
“I was afraid she would tell Naomi about us.””
Naomi stared at her.
“About your affair?””
Vanessa nodded miserably.
“You knew about that already. I thought Lily might have overheard something.””
“You thought my daughter was keeping your secrets?””
“No! That's not what I meant.””
“Then what did you mean?””
Vanessa rose abruptly, knocking her handbag from the chair.
“I never wanted any of this to happen!””
Ross stood, his voice firm.
“Sit down.””
Vanessa hesitated, then lowered herself into the chair again.
Naomi took one step toward her.
“You came into my home today wearing the same smile you wore in the photographs you posted from Jamaica. You watched my husband drop his suitcase beside our daughter's memorial, and you stood there pretending you had no idea what happened.””
Tears streamed down Vanessa's face.
“I didn't know she had died.””
“But you knew something was wrong.””
Vanessa said nothing.
Naomi looked at Marcus.
“And you brought her here.””
Marcus rubbed his hands over his face.
“I thought coming home together would make explaining everything easier.””
“Explaining what? Your affair?””
“I was going to tell you.””
“When? After the vacation? After the funeral? After you finished deciding which parts of our daughter's life were inconvenient for you?””
Marcus looked toward Lily's photograph.
“I know I failed her.””
“You don't get to turn this into a conversation about how guilty you feel.””
Naomi's voice cracked, and for the first time since the detectives arrived, she allowed herself to cry openly.
“I held her hand while she begged for you. I listened to her ask whether Daddy had forgotten her. I sat beside that bed and told my little girl you loved her, even when I couldn't understand why you weren't coming.””
Marcus sank into a chair.
“I didn't forget her.””
“Then why wasn't your phone in your hand when she needed you?””
He had no answer.
Detective Ellis waited until Naomi stepped back toward the memorial before speaking.
“Ms. Cole, we're going to establish a precise timeline. You said you never visited Lily.
Did you ever enter this house while Mr. Reed was away?””
Vanessa looked up sharply.
“No.””
Ellis held her gaze.
“Did you ever have access to the house keys?””
“No.””
“Did you know Lily's tablet password?””
“No.””
Ross picked up his notebook.
“Your earlier statement was that you had never received a message from Lily. You've now acknowledged receiving one. Why did your answer change?””
Vanessa's mouth tightened.
“I panicked.””
“About what?””
“About how everything would look.””
Ross waited.
Finally, Vanessa whispered, “Lily sent me a photograph.””
Naomi stopped breathing for a moment.
“What photograph?””
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“I don't remember.””
“You remember receiving it,” Ellis said.
“You remember being afraid of it. But you don't remember what it showed?””
“It was just a picture!””
“Of what?””
Vanessa squeezed her eyes shut.
“A screen.””
Marcus lifted his head.
“What screen?””
“Your phone,” Vanessa whispered.
He stood.
“My phone?””
Vanessa nodded, crying harder.
“She took a picture of your phone while it was on the kitchen counter. There was a message on it. I don't know why she sent it to me.””
Naomi stared at her.
“Why would my daughter send you a picture of her father's phone?””
“I don't know!””
“Was she trying to tell me something?””
“I said I don't know!””
Ross raised his hand, stopping the exchange.
“Did you save the photograph?””
“No. I deleted it.””
“When?””
“The same night.””
“Why?””
Vanessa wiped her face with both hands.
“Because I was scared.””
Ellis leaned forward.
“Scared of what the photograph would reveal?””
Vanessa looked at Marcus.
He was staring at her with a mixture of disbelief and disgust.
“Tell them,” he said.
She shook her head.
“Tell them what was on my phone.””
Vanessa's breathing became shallow.
“I can't.””
Marcus struck the armrest of his chair with his palm.
“You can. You just don't want to.””
Ross stepped closer.
“Mr. Reed, sit down. Ms.
Cole, we are not asking you to speculate. We are asking you to tell us what you remember.””
Vanessa stared at the white flowers on the memorial table.
Then she spoke.
“The message was from a woman named Danielle.””
Marcus's expression changed.
Naomi noticed immediately.
“Who is Danielle?””
Marcus didn't answer.
Vanessa turned toward him.
“Marcus?””
His jaw tightened.
“There's no reason to bring her into this.””
Detective Ellis immediately opened her notebook again.
“Why not?””
“Because she has nothing to do with my daughter's death.””
“You don't know that,” Ross replied.
“We haven't established what happened.””
Marcus looked at the detective, then at Naomi.
“Danielle is someone I worked with. That's all.””
Vanessa let out a disbelieving laugh through her tears.
“You told me she was your former business partner.””
“She was.””
“You told me she had moved away.””
“She did.””
“Then why was she texting you at midnight?””
Marcus said nothing.
Naomi felt the room tilt around her.
Her husband had already betrayed their marriage. Now another woman's name had entered the investigation surrounding their daughter.
She looked at the detectives.
“Find out who Danielle is.””
“We will,” Ross said.
Vanessa suddenly stood again.
“No. Please. You don't understand. Danielle isn't the person you need to be looking at.””
Ellis rose slowly.
“Then who should we be looking at?””
Vanessa's eyes shifted toward the memorial table.
For a moment, Naomi thought the woman might finally tell them everything.
Instead, Vanessa reached into her handbag and pulled out her phone.
“I have something.””
Marcus took a step forward.
“What are you doing?””
Vanessa unlocked the screen with trembling fingers.
“I kept one thing. I didn't mean to, but I did.””
She opened a folder and turned the phone toward Detective Ellis.
On the screen was a photograph of a handwritten note.
The writing was childish, uneven, and unmistakably familiar to Naomi.
Lily had written three lines in purple marker.
*Daddy is lying.*
*Vanessa knows.*
*Ask him what happened before I got sick.*
Naomi made a small, broken sound.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“That isn't possible.””
Vanessa's voice dropped to a whisper.
“Marcus, you need to tell them what you did.””
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And for the first time, Naomi saw something worse than guilt in her husband's face.
She saw recognition.
