Chapter 11 - Vanessa’s pressure campaign
Vanessa did not disappear quietly.
She contacted mutual friends.
Privately.
She said:
Graham was grieving.
Overprotective.
Dependent on Lily.
Manipulated by a child who resented a future stepmother.
That last phrase got back to me.
I almost broke my phone.
Then Vanessa raised something real.
I had become intensely protective after Abigail died.
Sometimes too protective.
Lily slept in my bed until she was nearly three.
I canceled travel if she cried.
I avoided babysitters.
I once fired a nanny after Lily signed that the woman had ignored her for “a long time,” only to discover later that “a long time” meant nine minutes while the nanny used the restroom.
I apologized.
Rehired her briefly.
Point:
I was not a perfect evaluator of every fear involving my daughter.
Vanessa’s defense gained credibility because it contained some truth.
May you like
That forced investigators to rely on evidence rather than my certainty.
Good.
