Chapter 8: The Last Move She Made
The text was not the last thing Vanessa tried.
Three days after she left, a woman Daniel didn't recognize appeared at Ethan's school during pickup.
She introduced herself to the front office as Ethan's aunt, said there had been a family emergency, and asked to take him home.
The school called Daniel immediately.
He was already in the parking lot.
He walked inside.
The woman was still at the front desk — mid-forties, well-dressed, calm in the way that Vanessa was calm.
She turned when she heard his footsteps.
"Mr.
Hartwell," she said.
"I can explain—"
"Don't," he said.
He looked at the front office administrator.
"Please call the police."
The woman's composure held for another five seconds.
Then she reached for her bag.
"Don't leave," Daniel said.
Not loudly.
The administrator had already picked up the phone.
The woman — whose name turned out to be Susan Fitch, Gerald Fitch's wife, a detail that made Martin go very quiet when Daniel told him — was detained by the responding officers and held for questioning.
She told them Vanessa had contacted her that morning.
That Vanessa had said Ethan was in danger from his father.
That she had been trying to help.
Detective Marsh called Daniel that evening.
"We found Vanessa," she said.
"She was at a hotel forty minutes outside the city.
She had a prepaid phone, a second set of documents — different names, different dates, same format as the notebook — and a contact list that included two people who had previously worked as paid character witnesses in family court cases."
Daniel sat down.
"What happens now?" he said.
"She's been taken into custody.
The charges include fraud, filing false instruments, and attempted interference with a minor.
The DA's office is also looking at the Patrick Ogle case now that we have the pattern established." A pause.
"She asked to make a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"She offered to give us the names of the character witnesses and the person who coached her on the documentation format in exchange for reduced charges."
"Is the DA taking it?"
"They're considering it.
It would help us close a larger case.
But the charges against her personally — those aren't going away regardless." Another pause.
"I thought you should hear it from me directly."
"Thank you," Daniel said.
After the call, he went upstairs.
Ethan was in his room, on the floor, building something with his blocks.
The stuffed rabbit was propped against the wall nearby, watching.
"Dad," Ethan said, without looking up.
"Is it over?"
Daniel sat on the floor beside him.
"Almost," he said.
Ethan placed a block carefully on top of the structure.
It held.
"She called me a liar," he said.
"A lot.
When you weren't home.
She said nobody would believe me because I was a kid and kids make things up."
"I believed you."
Ethan looked up.
"You didn't even ask me.
You just looked at my face."
"I know," Daniel said.
"That's how it's supposed to work."
Ethan went back to his blocks.
After a moment he said, "Can Dorothy come for dinner sometime?"
"Yes," Daniel said.
"Whenever you want."
They sat on the floor together until the structure was finished — tall and slightly crooked and still standing.
Ethan studied it with the serious satisfaction of a person who has built something that surprised even himself.
May you like
"Good," he said.
And left it at that.
