Chapter 64
Vanessa
‘Penn Station, as fast as possible, please,’ said Vanessa to the cab driver.
She closed the passenger door and caught her breath in the back of the cab as it pulled away from the courthouse.
A crowd of reporters had followed her out of the courtroom, but she had managed to get the elevator before they could jump in beside her.
They gathered outside the court building, and didn’t see her get into the cab.
She exhaled, tried to bring down her heart rate.
Flynn was brilliant. But way too smart for his own good.
She would meet him. Like she had agreed. She didn’t want this man for an enemy, and maybe the truth would make him an ally. But not yet. She couldn’t agree to see him for a while.
She had work to do.
Vanessa took the burner phone from her coat and typed out an SMS message to her husband.
The police will come for you. But they don’t have enough to charge you.
I can change that.
I have the bracelet. That’s why my DNA was on the jewelry box.
I’ll text you details of where we can meet. I need other people around. I’ll give you the bracelet, you give me what I want in the divorce. You’ll need time to prepare the papers.
I’ll send you details. If you come after me, I’ll make sure the police get the bracelet.
She hit send.
She’d set a chain of events in motion.
Nothing could stop this now.
Patrick would show that message to his father. That’s what he always did when he was in trouble, run to his daddy.
And Daddy would try to save him.
She had been so focused on texting Patrick that she had become unaware of her surroundings, and was surprised when the driver pulled up at the station.
She paid him, in cash, got out and made her way to the main hall of the station.
There was a small line of people waiting at the Amtrak Baggage service, but it moved fast. In a matter of minutes, Vanessa was at the front of the line. The storage bill could have paid for rent for a month, but she didn’t care about the charges. Amtrak had manned bag services, for extra security.
She displayed the QR code on her phone, and the baggage handler scanned it, disappeared behind a service door, then came out of the back storage area with a black Nike gym bag with a white swoosh.
Vanessa thanked him, and took the bag to a corner of the main hall, away from the crowds pounding their feet over the tile. She knelt, opened the bag and checked its contents.
Everything was there, securely wrapped.
One item was the bracelet she had taken from Molly’s jewelry box, now sealed in a transparent ziplock bag. She placed it back inside, checked the rest of the bag.
She took one item from the bag, and held it close to her chest.
A red leather Valentino purse. Holding it close to her chin, she opened it, peered inside . . .
A small silver revolver lay cosseted in rich, dark, padded leather.
A .22 caliber revolver.
She snapped the purse closed, put it in her coat pocket, zipped closed the Nike bag and made for a train headed west.
In two weeks, it would all be over.