Chapter 12 - Vanessa’s reason
Vanessa’s fuller statement came through a plea-proffer process months later.
She had received Marissa’s message shortly before the gala:
Nora is about to blow you up. Graham knows. He’s freezing the contract onstage.
Vanessa tried calling me.
My phone was on silent.
She looked for Nora.
Could not find her.
She found Colin carrying water toward my side-stage table.
Took my glass.
Walked into the service corridor.
Added a small amount of the concentrated compound.
Her stated goal:
Make me nauseated enough to leave before the speech.
Buy time until morning.
Then she would confront Nora and review records.
Did she know it could cause more serious harm?
The product carried warnings.
Her own purchase history suggested she knew it was potent.
She claimed she believed the small amount she used would cause only temporary illness.
Investigators could not prove she intended death.
They could prove she knowingly adulterated a drink with a harmful substance.
That was serious enough.
Why lunge for the glass?
Panic after Lily and Nora exposed the situation.
She wanted to remove it before anyone tested it.
That worsened everything.
Then:
Why had she purchased it through an event-supplies reimbursement?
She had not.
According to Vanessa, an assistant used the wrong company card months earlier for a legitimate personal stable purchase, then the receipt was mistakenly bundled into reimbursable expenses.
Possible.
Financial review found the foundation had reimbursed that eighty-six dollars.
Vale & Co. later repaid it after Nora flagged it.
Sloppy.
May you like
Not proof the foundation funded a poisoning plan.
Details mattered.
