Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Wedding Dress
We called the sheriff.
This time I listened to Eleanor.
Deputies reached Lake Marion before we did.
By the time Daniel and I arrived, two patrol cars blocked the gravel drive.
The black SUV remained near the dock.
Richard Vale stood beside it with an attorney on speakerphone.
Gregory Shaw sat on the porch steps.
Vanessa was gone.
I climbed from Daniel's car.
A deputy stopped me.
"Mrs. Whitmore?"
"Yes."
"This is your property?"
"Yes."
"Did you give any of these individuals permission to enter?"
"No."
He nodded.
"We found the back door unlocked."
"I locked it three weeks ago."
"Any hidden key?"
"Under a fake stone near the generator."
Daniel looked at me.
"Mom."
"What?"
"Everyone in the family knows that."
Including Vanessa.
The deputy continued.
"We found Mr. Vale and Mr. Shaw inside. They claim they believed they had authorization for an inspection."
"From whom?"
"Mr. Shaw says his daughter."
I looked at Gregory.
He wouldn't meet my eyes.
"Where is she?"
"We don't know."
"She was here."
"According to both men, she left before we arrived."
Daniel walked toward his father-in-law.
"Where's Vanessa?"
Gregory stood.
"Daniel, don't do this here."
"My wife disappeared the morning after our wedding. Where is she?"
"She's upset."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Gregory's face hardened.
"You need to calm down."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Don't tell me to calm down."
I placed a hand on my son's arm.
He stopped.
Richard Vale approached cautiously.
He was about fifty, silver-haired, expensive jacket, the composed face of a man accustomed to solving problems with contracts.
"Mrs. Whitmore, I believe there has been a significant misunderstanding."
"You were inside my house."
"Based on authorization presented by the Shaw family."
"A forged authorization."
His face changed.
"Forged?"
"You didn't know?"
"No."
I studied him.
His reaction seemed genuine.
Maybe I wanted it to be.
"Did Vanessa Shaw tell you I planned to give Daniel this property?"
He looked toward Gregory.
Then back to me.
"She indicated the property would soon transfer."
"When?"
"Several months ago."
Daniel swore under his breath.
Richard continued.
"She said you had agreed in principle to a sale following the wedding."
"I never agreed to anything."
"I understand that now."
"Why is the property worth four million to you?"
He hesitated.
Gregory turned sharply.
"Richard."
Vale ignored him.
"Because a resort company has been acquiring surrounding parcels."
I knew about rumors.
Nothing more.
"They want this shoreline?"
"They want continuous access along the north inlet."
"And mine is the gap."
"Yes."
"How much would the final buyer pay?"
Gregory moved toward him.
"Do not answer that."
Vale looked irritated.
"Greg, I'm not going to be charged with trespassing to protect your family's leverage."
He looked at me.
"Possibly six to seven million."
Daniel stared at the lake.
I did not.
Money was no longer the shocking part.
"Who was supposed to receive the difference between your purchase price and theirs?"
Richard's silence told me enough.
Daniel turned toward Gregory.
"You."
Gregory raised both hands.
"This is business."
"You forged my mother's signature?"
"No."
"Your sister notarized it."
"I didn't forge anything."
"Who did?"
"I don't know."
"Vanessa?"
His eyes shifted.
Only once.
But Daniel saw.
His face crumpled.
Not dramatically.
Something simply went out of it.
"Oh God."
Gregory exhaled.
"Daniel, she was trying to secure your future."
"My future?"
"Both of yours."
"By stealing from my mother?"
"No one was stealing."
I stepped forward.
"You were planning to buy property I had never agreed to sell using an authorization I never signed."
Gregory looked at me.
"You were giving it to Daniel anyway."
The sentence stunned everyone.
Even him.
He knew immediately that he had said too much.
Daniel's voice dropped.
"How did you know that?"
Gregory said nothing.
I remembered my missing survey.
My purse left inside the bridal room.
Then another memory came.
Two weeks before the wedding, Vanessa had visited me alone.
She brought pastries.
She offered to help me choose jewelry.
She went upstairs to use my bathroom.
My study was across the hall.
The transfer papers had been inside my desk.
Not finalized.
But visible.
"She saw the documents at my house."
Daniel looked at me.
"When?"
"Two weeks ago."
Gregory sat back down.
He looked older suddenly.
"Vanessa thought you were holding Daniel back."
I almost laughed.
"By giving him a house?"
"By keeping assets tied to emotion."
"That's my right."
"Yes."
He sounded defeated.
"Yes, it is."
Daniel's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello?"
His face changed instantly.
"Vanessa?"
I moved closer.
He put the call on speaker.
Her voice trembled.
"Daniel."
"Where are you?"
"I need you to listen."
"Tell me where you are."
"I didn't forge her name."
Gregory closed his eyes.
Daniel looked at him.
"Who did?"
"I made a mistake."
"Vanessa."
"I thought Dad's people were handling a future option. I thought Mom would sign after the transfer."
I said nothing.
"Then why was her signature already on it?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know."
"That's not enough."
"I'm scared."
His anger vanished.
"Are you safe?"
Silence.
"Vanessa?"
"I don't know."
Daniel's face went white.
"What does that mean?"
"I found something."
"What?"
"On Dad's laptop."
Gregory stood.
"Hang up."
Every deputy looked at him.
Daniel stared.
"What did you find?"
Vanessa began crying.
Real crying this time.
"I wasn't supposed to see it."
"Where are you?"
"At the old marina."
"Stay there."
"No."
"Vanessa—"
"Don't bring my father."
Gregory stepped forward.
"Give me the phone."
A deputy blocked him.
Daniel's voice softened.
"What did you find?"
Vanessa inhaled shakily.
"Emails between Dad and Melanie."
My skin went cold.
"About the forged authorization?" I asked.
"Yes."
Gregory's face collapsed.
Vanessa continued.
"But there's more."
Daniel gripped the phone.
"What?"
"They weren't waiting for you to get the lake house."
"What are you talking about?"
"They had another plan if Margaret refused to transfer it."
My mouth went dry.
"What plan?"
Vanessa whispered something we could barely hear.
Daniel leaned toward the phone.
"Say that again."
A car engine roared through the speaker.
Vanessa gasped.
Then came the sound of a door slamming.
"Vanessa?"
She whispered one final sentence.
May you like
"Daniel, he found me."
The call went dead.
