Chapter 6 - The Woman in the Red Dress
Vanessa was arrested two days later.
She did not resist when investigators arrived at her apartment. She was sitting beside a window, wearing a red dress.
The same color Sophie remembered.
When Dominic visited her in the interview room, she looked smaller than he had ever seen her.
"You came," she whispered.
"I came for answers."
Vanessa looked down at her hands.
"I loved you."
"You tried to destroy my daughter."
"I didn't want her dead."
Dominic's expression did not change.
"You set a fire in the house where she was sleeping."
"I thought she would be rescued. I thought it would look like an accident."
"You thought wrong."
Vanessa began to cry.
"Richard told me that once Sophie was gone, you would finally let me into your life. He said you would need someone to help you grieve. He said we could build a family together."
"You believed him?"
"I wanted to believe him."
Dominic leaned forward.
"Why did you keep her hidden for three years?"
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
"Because after the fire, Richard said the plan had changed. He told me that if you ever discovered Sophie was alive, the entire Sterling family would be destroyed. He said he would make sure I went to prison alone."
"So you let my daughter grow up believing I abandoned her."
Vanessa nodded.
"I sent gifts sometimes. Through other people. I wanted to know she was alive."
"That doesn't make you kind."
"I know."
For a moment, she looked almost like the woman Dominic had known before the engagement.
Then he remembered the way she had lunged for the cake, the panic in her face when Sophie spoke.
"Did you ever plan to bring her home?"
Vanessa's silence lasted too long.
"No," she finally whispered. "Not while you were still willing to marry me."
Dominic stood.
"Then there is nothing left to say."
"Dominic, please. I can help you. I know where Richard keeps the original records."
He paused.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because Richard is going to destroy them tonight."
Vanessa gave him an address.
A storage facility near the river, registered to a company that no longer existed.
Dominic passed the information to the investigators. A search warrant was obtained, and officers found boxes of documents, photographs, and a ledger connecting Richard to the fire, the false death report, and the payments used to keep Sophie hidden.
They also found a small cassette recorder.
The recording was dated the night of the fire.
Richard's voice was unmistakable.
"The girl is alive?"
Vanessa answered, "Yes. Elise got her out."
"Then take her. Nobody can know."
"What about Dominic?"
"Let him believe she's dead. Grief will make him easier to control."
The recording ended.
Dominic listened to it twice.
He felt no satisfaction.
Only a deep, terrible sorrow for the years he had lost.
The evidence was enough to support charges against Richard and Vanessa, along with additional charges against those who had helped falsify the investigation.
But Richard had one final move.
May you like
Before dawn, he disappeared from his residence.
And Sophie was nowhere to be found.
