Chapter 6 - Vanessa Turns on Daniel
Daniel would not give me the phone.
I did not fight him for it.
That would have been exactly the kind of reaction Vanessa had wanted from me three days earlier.
Instead, I sat back down.
“Show me the video.”
He rubbed his face.
“I don’t have it.”
“Who does?”
“Vanessa.”
“Then call her.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She’ll delete it.”
“Then she already knows it matters.”
Daniel looked toward the café window.
I followed his eyes.
Vanessa’s SUV sat across the street.
My stomach tightened.
“You said she wasn’t coming.”
“I didn’t know she followed me.”
“She follows you now?”
“She doesn’t trust me.”
I almost laughed.
“Apparently neither of you chose a relaxing marriage.”
Daniel ignored that.
His phone buzzed again.
Vanessa.
Then again.
He silenced it.
I said:
“Tell me what the video shows.”
He looked down.
“The bedroom.”
“From where?”
“Your dresser.”
“Her phone?”
“Yes.”
“She positioned it before she cut my hair.”
He nodded.
“Why?”
His eyes filled.
“We thought you’d react.”
There it was.
We.
Not Vanessa.
“We.”
He closed his eyes.
“I knew she wanted a reaction.”
“What kind?”
“She said you’d scream. Maybe shove her.”
“And then?”
“Use it.”
“For what?”
“To show you were unstable.”
My stomach twisted.
“You wanted footage of me attacking the woman holding scissors beside my head while I slept.”
Daniel flinched.
“When you say it like that—”
“There is no other way to say it.”
He stared at the table.
“I didn’t think she would cut that much.”
I laughed.
The couple at the next table glanced over.
I lowered my voice.
“That is your defense?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“What I did was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I was scared.”
“Yes.”
“Can you stop agreeing like that?”
“No.”
His mouth tightened.
Then his phone rang.
This time he answered.
“Vanessa.”
Her voice was loud enough that I heard.
“Where are you?”
“Coffee.”
“With her?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Yes.”
“You idiot.”
He stood.
I raised a hand.
Sit.
He did.
Vanessa continued:
“Did you tell her?”
“Tell her what?”
“The video.”
Daniel said nothing.
Vanessa swore.
Then:
“She already knows about the loan, doesn’t she?”
Silence.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
Her tone changed instantly.
Cool.
Practical.
“Put me on speaker.”
He did.
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“I think Daniel is lying to you.”
Daniel whispered:
“Vanessa.”
She ignored him.
“The whole thing was his idea.”
“What whole thing?”
“The house. The paperwork. The medication.”
Daniel shot upright.
“No.”
Vanessa laughed.
“He’s going to make me look crazy.”
I looked at him.
His face had gone white.
Vanessa continued:
“He told me how much of his temazepam would make you sleepy without making you sick.”
Daniel hit the table.
“That is not what happened.”
She said:
“You said fifteen milligrams.”
“My dose is fifteen.”
“Exactly.”
“You asked what I took.”
“And then I used it because you wanted your mother calmer.”
“No.”
People were staring now.
Good.
Witnesses.
I said:
“Vanessa, did Daniel tell you to put medication in my tea?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Daniel whispered:
“Liar.”
She continued:
“He told me you were impossible when you were anxious.”
I looked at Daniel.
He shook his head violently.
“I never told her to drug you.”
“Did you know she was?”
“Once.”
“More than once?”
“No.”
“Did you stop her?”
“I told her to stop.”
Vanessa laughed again.
“He knew.”
“Prove it,” Daniel snapped.
A second of silence.
Then Vanessa said:
“I can.”
Daniel froze.
My pulse kicked.
“How?”
“Texts.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Mom, she edits screenshots.”
Vanessa said:
“I’ll send them.”
My phone buzzed.
Image.
Text thread.
Daniel’s contact photo.
Message:
SHE NEEDS TO LOOK UNSTABLE, NOT SICK.
Another:
HALF IS ENOUGH.
Another:
DON’T GIVE HER ANYTHING IF JOAN IS THERE.
My hands went cold.
Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“Those are real texts, but not about pills.”
I pulled free.
“What were they about?”
He stared.
“The camera.”
“What camera?”
“The haircut recording.”
My chest tightened.
Half is enough.
Half her hair?
I looked at the timestamp.
February 18.
1:14 a.m.
The night Daniel was hospitalized after his car accident.
I remembered going to see him.
He had been sedated after shoulder surgery.
His phone sat in Vanessa’s purse.
I stared at the screenshot.
“When was your accident?”
He blinked.
“What?”
“Date.”
“February eighteenth.”
“Where were you at one fourteen in the morning?”
“Hospital.”
“Did you have your phone?”
His face changed.
“No.”
Vanessa went quiet on speaker.
I looked at Daniel.
“Who did?”
“Vanessa.”
Silence.
I smiled without humor.
“Vanessa?”
She hung up.
Daniel stared at the dead screen.
“She used my phone.”
“Maybe.”
“Mom.”
“Maybe.”
He grabbed his hair.
“She’s setting me up.”
“You helped her.”
“Yes.”
“Then she has material.”
He looked at me.
“What are you going to do?”
I stood.
“Find out which crimes are yours.”
He reached for me.
I stepped back.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
I walked outside.
Vanessa’s SUV was gone.
Henry and Detective Lawson were waiting in the car two blocks away.
I handed Lawson screenshots.
He checked metadata.
“Screenshots prove little.”
“I know.”
“Daniel’s phone records may.”
I nodded.
“Vanessa had his phone while he was hospitalized.”
Lawson wrote it down.
Henry looked at me.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
We drove to my house.
Noah Briggs was already imaging devices under a preservation agreement I signed as homeowner for my computer and network.
Not Daniel’s personal phone.
For that, Lawson needed consent or process.
Daniel arrived thirty minutes later.
Alone.
He handed Lawson his phone.
“Take it.”
Lawson blinked.
“You understand you can decline?”
“Yes.”
“Password?”
Daniel gave it.
He looked at me.
“I want you to know what’s mine.”
“And what isn’t.”
“Yes.”
The forensic extraction started.
While we waited, Vanessa returned.
She walked in carrying a suitcase.
Saw Lawson.
Stopped.
“Who is he?”
I answered:
“A detective.”
Her face changed.
Then recovered.
“Why?”
“Financial fraud.”
Daniel stood.
“You used my phone after the accident.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You’re unbelievable.”
He held up the screenshot.
“One fourteen a.m.”
“So?”
“I was under anesthesia.”
“You texted before surgery.”
“Not at one fourteen.”
Her eyes flicked toward Lawson.
Tiny.
Enough.
Lawson said:
“Ms. Collins, you don’t have to speak with me.”
“Good.”
She turned to leave.
I blocked the doorway.
“My house.”
She stared.
“I live here.”
“Not for long.”
Daniel whispered:
“Mom.”
I looked at him.
“Three days ago, you taught me a lesson.”
He looked down.
“I learned it.”
Vanessa picked up her suitcase.
Then stopped.
“Fine.”
She looked at Daniel.
“Tell her the truth about the hair.”
His face tightened.
“What?”
Vanessa smiled.
“He stood outside the bedroom.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“He told me exactly where to put the phone.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
My chest tightened.
Vanessa continued:
“He said, ‘Just make sure the camera gets her face.’”
Daniel whispered:
“Stop.”
She laughed.
“Why? You wanted evidence.”
Lawson watched both of them.
I did too.
Daniel said:
“I wanted a recording if Mom became violent.”
I stared.
“You planned the trap.”
His shoulders collapsed.
“Yes.”
Lawson’s forensic technician called from the kitchen.
“We found the original video.”
Everyone froze.
“Where?”
“Cloud backup linked to Vanessa’s phone.”
Vanessa went white.
The video began.
Her hand placed the phone on my dresser.
Daniel’s voice from the hallway:
“Just make sure the camera gets her face.”
Then Vanessa whispered:
May you like
“If she hits me, we have everything.”
CUT.
