Page 38 of Vanishing Point
“It’s part of the job,” Laurel said gently. “If it wasn’t, Thomas would be here and handling this himself, right?”
Vi nodded. She was almost glad he wasn’t. She wasn’t sure what he would have done ifthathad been the message that had woken them up. She was half-afraid he would have flown to Virginia himself.
It seemed better, or at leastalmostbetter, to deal with someone who might not believe her.
“Besides,” Laurel continued. “My husband is used to middle-of-the-night phone calls and me being called away. He’s superdad at that. We’ve been doing this for a long time. So, don’t worry about anything. You did the exact right thing. Now, can I see the text message?”
Vi nodded and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She’d had to unlock her phone to call Laurel, but she’d left the text message unread. After a short hesitation, she forced herself to open the message and hold the phone out to Laurel.
Laurel took the phone, read the screen. Her expression didn’t change, except maybe her mouth got a little tighter. “Not particularly clever.”
“No, not his strong suit.”
She looked up at Vi. “You’re sure it’s your ex-husband, then?”
Vi wanted to look away. To shrug and say who really knew anything. But if Laurel told Thomas she acted that way… “I don’t know who else it could be but proving it is the problem.”
Laurel nodded. “No, it’s not going to be easy to prove, but that doesn’t mean we won’t give it our best shot. We’ll try to get some information on the number, to start. I want you to screenshot that message, text it to me. I’ll forward it to Thomas after he’sdone with his current case, or you can. I know he’s got a file of these from when we first got those pictures.”
Vi nodded, but she didn’t act right away. Maybe Thomas hadn’t told Laurel everything. Maybe Laurel didn’t fully understand. Even if she usedwelike they were all in this together.
She forced herself to screenshot it, forward it to Laurel’s number. She’d forward it to Rosalie in the morning too.
“I’ll have Thomas call the postal inspector. Maybe something about this can connect everything.”
Vi tried not to pull a face. She justhatedall this being passed around, but it had to be. Ithadto be.
Laurel didn’t ask too many questions. At first Vi was relieved, but she got more and more tense about it as she started to realize it was because there was already a file. All about her and her ex-husband. Because of the pictures. Because of the postal inspector. Because of…
She stopped the negative thought spiral. Anybecauseswere due toEric. And she had to remember that.
But Eric was still the crux of the problem.
“The thing is, even if you connect it to Eric, it doesn’t matter. He has his whole precinct under his thumb. He’s so great, so brave, his ex-wife must just be crazy. He even got his lawyer to somehow make it look likehefiled for divorce andIcontested it.”
Laurel was quiet for a moment, nodding slowly. “All of that may be true, but if he’s mixed up in this federal case about mail fraud, he’s crossing lines no amount of influence can fix for him.”
“Are you sure about that?” Vi asked, not certain how that question sounded to Laurel. Because toherears it felt as derisive and scoffing as she felt. Which wasn’t the right attitude, she knew.
But it had beenyears. Why should she believe something could change?
Because you’re here. Alive and happy. In love with a great guy who’s protecting you.
As it so often did, that truth and hope felt too dangerous to believe in.
Laurel studied her, like she didn’t quite understand the question. “I know justice doesn’t always work out, but—”
“There’s no buts to that. Sometimes, no amount of doing the right thing gets anyone justice. I did everything you’re supposed to. Maybe not right away. Maybe I didn’t get out when I should have, but when the abuse got to a certain point, I called the cops. I wanted to press charges. He made me out to be the villain, andnothingever stuck to him. I know what cops can do.”
Laurel didn’t say anything right away. She didn’t even look mad or pitying. There was a kind of resigned sadness to her sigh. “Fair enough. Are you worried that Thomas would do the same thing?”
For a moment, just a moment, it seemed her whole world tilted. The idea of Thomas shaping everyone’s thoughts and feelings about her. That all this would just disappear, and everyone would think of her as Eric had portrayed her.
But even as the picture took shape in her imagination, she couldn’t imagine Thomas doing any of it. It was still just Eric, poisoning her life here.
Because she knew better than to believe in someone wholeheartedly. She knew better than to think happily-ever-afters were real or easy. But she also knew Thomas Hart.
“No. I know he wouldn’t. I just…”
