The Recording Nobody Could Explain Away
Chapter 02 - The Recording Nobody Could Explain Away
The man holding the phone was a young photographer named Theo Grant. He had been hired to capture candid moments from the gala and had filmed the staircase for a planned montage of arriving guests.
“It's continuous,” he said. “I haven't edited it.”
I asked him not to play it publicly. My sister was injured, and the first priority was medical care. But Vanessa seized on that decision immediately.
“See?” she cried. “Daniel doesn't want my humiliation turned into entertainment.”
“It's Emily's injury I'm thinking about,” I answered.
Theo handed the phone to me instead. On the screen, Vanessa stood beside Emily at the top of the staircase. The sound was clear enough to hear Vanessa ask whether Emily had brought “the papers.” Emily said she intended to give them to me. Vanessa replied, “If you embarrass me tonight, you'll regret ever coming home.”
Then Emily stepped toward the railing. Vanessa blocked her path and caught the floating fabric of Emily's dress with her heel. Emily tried to pull away. Vanessa thrust an arm forward. Emily lost her balance.
I watched it twice.
The camera couldn't establish whether the shove was intended to send Emily down the stairs. It established that Vanessa had lied about being chased and that she had made physical contact immediately before the fall.
Vanessa looked at my face and knew what I'd seen.
“Daniel, she provoked me,” she whispered.
I looked at the woman I'd asked to marry me. “You said you never touched her.”
Before she could answer, paramedics arrived. Mom went with Emily in the ambulance. I promised to follow. Theo agreed to preserve the original recording for the investigators.
Vanessa caught my wrist near the front door. “You're not seriously taking her side?”
“She's hurt.”
“Your mother has never liked me.”
I pulled my arm free. “That isn't what I asked.”
Her expression flattened. “Be careful, Daniel. There's more at stake than you realize.”
May you like
I stood motionless as she walked away.
It was the first time she had ever sounded as though she was warning me rather than pleading with me.
