Daniel Found Vanessa’s Missing Necklace Inside Sophie’s Bunny — Then He Pulled Out a Plane Ticket for the Next Morning
Chapter 2 — The Name on the Ticket
Daniel looked at the passenger name.
Then read it again.
VANESSA HART.
He frowned.
“Hart?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Daniel knew her maiden name.
It was Mercer.
Not Hart.
“Who is Vanessa Hart?”
She reached for the ticket again.
“Daniel, please.”
He moved it out of reach.
“Answer me.”
Sophie pressed herself against his leg.
Vanessa looked toward the child.
“Not in front of her.”
Daniel immediately noticed Sophie’s reaction.
She tightened her grip.
“She already knows something.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with anger.
“She went through my things.”
Sophie shook her head quickly.
“No.”
Daniel crouched.
“Sophie, did you put the necklace in Bunny?”
“No.”
“Did you put the ticket in there?”
“No.”
Vanessa interrupted.
“She’s been lying all afternoon.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Stop answering for her.”
Then he turned back to Sophie.
“Did you see someone put them inside?”
Sophie hesitated.
Her eyes moved toward Vanessa.
Daniel noticed.
“You’re safe. Tell me.”
Sophie nodded slowly.
“Vanessa did.”
The room went silent.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“That is not true.”
Sophie began crying again.
“I saw you.”
Daniel stood.
“When?”
“After lunch.”
According to Sophie, she had gone upstairs looking for Bunny.
Her bedroom door was partly open.
Vanessa was sitting on the bed.
She had the stuffed toy in her lap.
And she was pushing something inside its back seam.
Sophie asked what she was doing.
Vanessa told her she was fixing the toy.
Then she warned Sophie not to mention it.
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“Is that true?”
Vanessa whispered:
“Part of it.”
