Chapter 4 - The Confession of Cynthia Vance
By four o'clock that morning, the medical transport jet from Massachusetts General Hospital had landed at the regional airfield, transferring Eleanor into the private care of Dr. Sarah Lin, the state’s chief of maternal-fetal medicine.
Meanwhile, inside the high-security interrogation suite of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, Cynthia Vance sat at a metal table, her wrists secured in heavy steel handcuffs.
Assistant District Attorney Marcus Reed sat across from her, surrounded by three thick binders containing forensic digital extractions from her seized mobile devices.
Alexander and I stood behind the one-way acoustic glass in the observation room.
"Cynthia," Marcus Reed began, his voice flat as an iron slab. "Your sister Vanessa has already invoked her right to counsel. But your phone contains ninety-four encrypted messages detailing the exact financial terms of the staged plane crash in 2023."
Cynthia’s face was an ashen mask of ruined makeup and sweat. She looked down at the table, her hands shaking violently.
"It was Vanessa’s idea!" Cynthia cried out, her voice cracked and hysterical. "Our father lost thirty million dollars in maritime freight options! The private lenders were threatening to foreclose on the family estate! Vanessa said that if Eleanor died, Alexander would be vulnerable... that he would turn to her for comfort!"
"And how did you stage the crash?" Reed asked, leaning forward.
"We paid the charter pilot two hundred thousand dollars to declare an in-flight engine failure over the Atlantic and divert the aircraft to a private grass strip in Sussex County," Cynthia sobbed. "They drugged Eleanor, loaded her into a medical transport van, and brought her to the Berkshires. Vanessa told the coroner’s office in Cape May that Eleanor’s dental records matched the Jane Doe recovered from the coastal storm wreckage!"
In the observation room, Alexander’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched violently along his cheek. He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a set of certified corporate transfer decrees.
"And the pregnancy?" Marcus Reed continued in the interrogation room.
"Vanessa found out six months ago that Eleanor had undergone an in-vitro fertilization cycle using Alexander’s frozen genetic material before the plane crash," Cynthia confessed, her tears dropping onto the metal table. "The private fertility clinic in Boston held three viable embryos. Vanessa used a forged medical proxy to authorize the implantation procedure at the mountain clinic. The plan was to let Eleanor carry the baby to term, induce delivery under heavy sedation, take the newborn to New York, and... and dispose of Eleanor in the forest."
Alexander turned away from the glass, his eyes burning with a terrifying, absolute resolve.
"Marcus," Alexander spoke into the wall-mounted intercom.
May you like
"Yes, Mr. Whitmore?"
"Tell the United States Attorney to file capital charges. I want Vanessa and Cynthia Vance tried for Aggravated Kidnapping, Attempted Premeditated Murder, Federal Wire Fraud, and Human Trafficking."
