Chapter 11 - THE CRAWL SPACE
Vanessa did not plan a kidnapping weeks in advance.
The confinement escalated.
She took Margaret’s phone.
Margaret tried to leave.
Vanessa blocked the door.
Margaret threatened:
“I’m calling Emily.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Now you want Emily.”
They argued near the old utility access.
Margaret tried to push past.
Vanessa grabbed her arm.
Margaret stumbled.
The service door stood open because Vanessa had been checking a pipe leak earlier.
Vanessa told Margaret:
“Sit down there until you calm down.”
Margaret refused.
They struggled.
Vanessa got her inside.
Closed the metal gate.
Then locked it.
At first:
“Ten minutes.”
Then:
“Until we can talk.”
Then Margaret began shouting.
Vanessa panicked.
Neighbors might hear.
She moved a rug over the floor access area and told herself she would release Margaret at night.
Night came.
She did not.
Morning came.
Emily arrived unexpectedly.
Every hour made the next honest action harder.
That did not reduce Vanessa’s responsibility.
It explained the escalation.
Vanessa brought food.
Water.
A blanket.
Then sat upstairs listening to Margaret cry.
Later she told the detective:
“I kept thinking I needed one more hour.”
“For what?”
“To fix it.”
“How?”
Vanessa looked down.
May you like
“I don’t know.”
There was no version of fixing it that did not begin with opening the gate.
