Chapter 8 - Vanessa Tried To Lie One More Time
I left Claire with the funeral-home coordinator and went back into the chapel.
Vanessa was near the front now, talking rapidly to the funeral director, who looked close to collapse. Several mourners had already drifted toward the exit, shocked and confused. The white casket remained open just enough to reveal what I now fully understood: the dead woman inside was not Claire.
Vanessa saw me coming and straightened, as if rehearsing authority back into her body.
“Daniel, thank God,” she said. “This has gotten completely out of hand. Claire must be unstable—”
“Stop.”
One word. That was all it took to make her fall silent.
I walked until I was directly in front of her.
“Noah told me he saw Claire this morning.”
Her expression flickered—but only for a second.
“He’s a child. He was upset.”
I took out the hospital receipt Claire had given Noah.
“She was admitted as Jane Doe. Today’s date. St. Augustine Medical Center.”
Vanessa stared at the paper and said nothing.
Then she made the mistake that ended her.
She looked toward the side corridor.
Not at me.
Not at the coffin.
Not at Noah.
At the side corridor.
The exact place where Claire had come from.
It was the reflex of a guilty person checking whether the danger had gotten closer.
I saw it.
And Vanessa saw that I saw it.
“Daniel,” she said, voice cracking now, “please let me explain.”
“No. You’re going to stand right here and wait.”
“For what?”
I held her gaze.
“For me to bring back the woman you buried.”
For the first time since I had known her, Vanessa looked truly cornered.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
May you like
Afraid.
And when she instinctively took one slow step backward, I knew she had already realized the game was over.
