Chapter 17 - MY MOTHER'S VOICE
My mother didn't deny recording Sophie.
“I was trying to understand what she meant.”
We sat across from each other at my kitchen table.
Sophie was with my sister in another room.
“You prompted her.”
“I asked her to repeat herself.”
“Twenty-three times?”
My mother lowered her eyes.
The recording looked terrible.
More importantly, it could contaminate Sophie's spontaneous statement.
Vanessa's attorneys knew exactly what they were doing by submitting it.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you were already unraveling.”
That word hit me.
“Unraveling?”
“You weren't sleeping. You were accusing everyone. Nathan disappeared. You were talking about Emily's files as if she were still investigating beside you.”
I wanted to argue.
Some of it was true.
My mother reached across the table.
“I believe Vanessa hurt Sophie. I saw the bruise. I believe something is wrong. But you started treating every coincidence like proof.”
She was right about that too.
I leaned back.
This was the chapter of the case I didn't want.
The one where I wasn't simply the hero.
I had slapped Vanessa.
I had called her against legal advice.
I had pushed Nathan away.
I had accepted uncertain evidence because it fit my theory.
Protecting Sophie required discipline, not obsession.
I apologized to my mother.
Then I asked the important question.
“When did Sophie first say the phrase to you?”
My mother thought.
“The morning before the plate incident.”
I went still.
“Before?”
“Yes.”
That changed the timeline.
Sophie hadn't invented or first repeated the phrase after Vanessa hit her.
She already knew it.
“Where were you?”
“Here.”
“Who else was here?”
“Vanessa. And a repairman.”
“What repairman?”
“The dishwasher.”
There had been no dishwasher repair scheduled.
We checked the doorbell camera archive.
At 9:07 that morning, a man entered carrying a tool bag.
His face appeared clearly.
Nathan, who had finally contacted Rachel, recognized him from Eric's old company photographs.
It was Eric Dawson.
I called Eric through his attorney.
This time, my patience was gone.
“You were in my house.”
Silence.
“You told me you were hiding from Vanessa.”
“I was.”
“You came into her house dressed as a repairman.”
“I needed something.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
“Of whom?”
“Vanessa.”
Eric admitted he had been trying to obtain evidence that she was using the same scheme against me.
He had whispered his old warning while Sophie was nearby.
“She didn't do it alone.”
Sophie had copied him.
The mystery of Sophie's sentence finally had a real answer.
But Eric had illegally entered my home under false pretenses.
My heroic witness had crossed a line.
And Vanessa had seen him.
May you like
That was why she had panicked when Sophie repeated the phrase.
📖 Sophie's mysterious warning finally made sense, but Eric's secret visit had captured a conversation Vanessa would do almost anything to keep hidden. 👇
