Chapter 8 - THE FALL ON THE STAIRS
Daniel did not watch the June 14 video in the house.
He drove to a twenty-four-hour grocery store, parked beneath a light near the entrance, and opened Paige’s file.
The clip began in the upstairs hallway.
No sound.
Eleanor entered frame carrying folded towels.
Vanessa came out of Daniel’s bedroom.
They spoke.
Eleanor tried to walk past.
Vanessa blocked her.
Eleanor stepped sideways.
Vanessa grabbed her upper arm.
Eleanor pulled away.
Vanessa grabbed again.
This time Eleanor lost her balance.
She fell backward.
One step.
Then another.
Then a third.
Her shoulder struck the wall.
Daniel stopped the video.
He put the phone down.
For several minutes he sat without moving.
Cars came and went.
A teenager pushed carts across the parking lot.
A man in a Bears sweatshirt walked past carrying two frozen pizzas.
Normal life continued within twenty feet of him.
Daniel started the video again.
Vanessa descended two steps.
Eleanor was sitting against the wall.
Vanessa leaned down.
The audio finally activated.
“You slipped.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“You pushed me.”
“You pulled away.”
“You pushed me.”
Vanessa’s voice became quiet.
“If you tell Daniel I pushed you, I’ll tell him why we were arguing.”
Eleanor said nothing.
“You think he’ll like hearing you’ve been interfering in his marriage?”
“Help me up.”
“You’re fine.”
“My shoulder.”
“You’re fine.”
The clip ended.
Daniel called Paige.
She answered immediately.
“You watched it.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you show me sooner?”
“Grandma asked me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought you’d fly home and lose the deal.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
“Of course she did.”
“She kept saying you’d spent ten years building the company.”
“It’s a company.”
“I know.”
“No, apparently none of us knew.”
He heard Paige crying quietly.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Where are you?”
“Upstairs.”
“Is your mother near you?”
“No.”
“Stay away from her tonight.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m calling Marissa.”
“Are you calling the police?”
Daniel looked at the frozen frame of Eleanor against the wall.
“Yes.”
Paige went silent.
“Not because I want revenge,” he said. “Because pretending this didn’t happen is how it kept happening.”
“She’s my mom.”
“I know.”
“Will they arrest her?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
Police reports did not work like television.
Evidence had to be reviewed.
Statements taken.
Jurisdiction confirmed.
Prosecutors decided charges.
Daniel was not going to promise handcuffs by breakfast.
“I’ll stay with Grandma,” Paige whispered.
“Thank you.”
Daniel called Marissa.
She told him to preserve the original file, not edit it, and document the chain of custody.
“Call the non-emergency line,” she said. “If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911. Otherwise, let them tell you how they want the report handled.”
“Vanessa is still in the house.”
“Can Eleanor stay elsewhere tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Do that.”
Daniel drove home.
Vanessa was watching television.
“You went out?”
“Couldn’t sleep.”
She smiled.
“Still jet lag.”
“Yeah.”
He went upstairs.
Eleanor was awake.
Paige sat beside her.
Daniel knelt in front of his mother.
“I watched June fourteenth.”
Eleanor’s face folded.
“You weren’t supposed to.”
“You told me you fell in the shower.”
“I wanted you to finish what you started.”
“I would have come home.”
“I know.”
“That was the point.”
Daniel stood and turned away.
He pressed both hands against the dresser.
“I missed it.”
Eleanor’s voice came softly.
“You were not the one in this house doing it.”
“I wasn’t in this house doing anything.”
“That is different.”
He turned.
“Pack a bag.”
“Why?”
“You and Paige are staying at the hotel tonight.”
Paige looked up.
“What about you?”
“I’m staying here.”
“No,” Eleanor said.
“Mom.”
“No.”
“I need access to documents.”
“Then we all leave and you come back with someone.”
Daniel stared at her.
Even bruised, even frightened, she was still giving better advice than he was.
He nodded.
Within forty minutes, they were driving to a hotel near I-88.
Vanessa stood in the driveway in slippers.
“Where are you going?”
Daniel lowered the car window.
“Mom needs rest.”
“At a hotel?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa looked at Paige in the back seat.
“You too?”
Paige turned her face away.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Paige.”
Daniel raised the window.
His phone rang before they reached the end of the block.
He declined it.
Then another call.
Then a text.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Another.
DANIEL, TALK TO ME.
Then:
YOU ARE LETTING HER DESTROY THIS FAMILY.
At the hotel, Daniel made the police report.
An officer met them in the lobby conference room.
Eleanor gave a statement.
Paige provided the video file.
Daniel provided bank records.
The officer was calm, methodical, and careful not to promise an outcome.
Because Eleanor was over sixty, he also completed an elder-abuse referral.
By two in the morning, Eleanor was asleep.
Paige sat on the floor beside the window.
Daniel was reading Vanessa’s texts.
Thirty-four messages.
The final one said:
IF YOU WALK OUT ON ME OVER HER, DON’T PRETEND THIS STARTED WITH ME.
Daniel showed it to Paige.
“What does she mean?”
Paige looked at the screen.
“I don’t know.”
His phone rang again.
This time the number was unfamiliar.
Daniel answered.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Colin Reese. I’m with First Prairie Bank’s fraud department.”
Daniel sat up.
The bank was not Eleanor’s bank.
It was his.
“We received your callback request regarding a home-equity application.”
Daniel frowned.
“I never made a callback request.”
The man paused.
“Then I think we need to discuss an application submitted in your name three weeks ago.”
Daniel stood.
“What application?”
“A five-hundred-thousand-dollar home-equity line against the Naperville property.”
Daniel looked at Paige.
“I didn’t apply for that.”
“I was afraid you might say that.”
“Was it approved?”
“No. Identity verification failed.”
Daniel’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Who submitted it?”
“I can’t tell you that without completing verification. But the application used your Social Security number, your property information, and a scanned copy of your driver’s license.”
Daniel stopped.
His driver’s license had been with him in Singapore.
His old license, however, had been left at home.
In Vanessa’s desk.
The bank representative continued.
“One more thing, Mr. Mercer.”
“What?”
“The application listed a co-borrower.”
Daniel already knew the answer.
He asked anyway.
May you like
“Who?”
“Vanessa Mercer.”
