Chapter 9 - THE FAMILY FRIEND
The friend was Susan Hale.
She owned the hunting cabin where Natalie stayed intermittently.
Susan claimed she did not know Natalie was being kept there against her will.
Vanessa told her Natalie wanted privacy.
Susan left groceries outside.
Never entered.
Why?
Vanessa said Natalie was embarrassed.
Susan believed her.
Then, two months before the floorboard discovery, Susan arrived unexpectedly.
She found Natalie outside the cabin.
No phone.
Crying.
Natalie said:
“Please call Michael.”
Susan was shocked.
Before she could, Vanessa arrived.
There was an argument.
Susan asked:
“Why Michael?”
Vanessa said Natalie was confused.
Natalie said:
“I’m not.”
Susan still did not call.
Why?
“She told me Natalie was in withdrawal.”
Natalie had been sober for months by then.
Susan did not know.
Vanessa showed her old messages from Natalie during relapse.
Drunk.
Chaotic.
Angry.
Real messages.
Used out of time.
That was how Vanessa maintained credibility.
She did not need to invent Natalie’s past.
She used the past to discredit the present.
Susan apologized later.
Natalie accepted nothing yet.
Then Laura asked Susan:
“What changed after that day?”
Vanessa stopped using the cabin.
Natalie went back under the house.
That was when the confinement became most severe.
Because outside witnesses had become dangerous.
Then Michael realized something.
Susan had attended Emily’s first birthday party at their house.
The party was six months earlier.
Natalie had been beneath the living room that day.
Susan stood feet above her.
Did Vanessa know?
Yes.
Then investigators found a photograph from that birthday.
Vanessa smiling beside Susan.
Behind them, in the floor vent—
a tiny piece of white paper.
May you like
Zoomed in, one word was visible.
HELP.
