Chapter 14 - David's Missing Forty Minutes
David listened to the recording three times.
Then he punched a wall.
Jessica stood across the hotel suite.
Chloe was asleep in the adjoining room with an Army friend Jessica trusted.
Sloan had placed agents outside.
David stared at his bleeding knuckles.
"He thinks I'm involved."
"He says not to trust you."
"That's not the same thing."
"It's close."
David turned.
"I didn't even know he was alive."
"You also didn't remember meeting him."
"Because my parents drugged me."
Jessica said nothing.
David laughed bitterly.
"Great. That's where we are now. My dead father-in-law leaves a tape accusing me after my father admits erasing my memory."
"He's not dead."
"You know what I mean."
Jessica looked at him.
"Do I?"
He stopped.
She continued.
"Where were you from four to five p.m. on January nineteenth?"
David frowned.
"What?"
"The day Thomas met your mother."
"I told you. Office."
Sloan entered.
"No."
David turned.
She held a phone.
"Your building badge shows you left at 3:52."
David stared.
"Then I went home."
"No apartment entry until 5:17."
Jessica's chest tightened.
"Where were you?"
"I don't know."
Sloan said, "Your car entered Union Station parking at 4:06."
David sat.
"No."
"It did."
"Someone used it."
"Camera confirms you were driving."
Jessica whispered, "You were there."
David looked terrified.
"I don't remember."
Sloan continued.
"Your phone was turned off for forty-two minutes."
David pressed his fingers to his temples.
"No."
Jessica remembered Richard's confession.
Medication.
Memory loss.
"Has this happened before?"
David looked up.
"What?"
"Missing time."
His face gave the answer.
"When?"
He stood abruptly.
"Never."
"David."
"I said never."
"You're lying."
He walked toward the window.
Jessica waited.
Finally he spoke.
"Sometimes."
"How often?"
"A few times."
"Since when?"
He stared at the city.
"Last year."
Sloan stepped closer.
"What happens?"
"I wake up somewhere and don't remember driving there."
Jessica's stomach dropped.
"You never told me."
"I thought I was exhausted."
"Forty minutes?"
"Sometimes more."
Sloan asked, "Medication?"
"Nothing."
"Alcohol?"
"No."
"Medical evaluation?"
David shook his head.
Jessica's anger collided with fear.
"Why would you hide this?"
"Because I thought you'd think I was unstable."
"You have a five-year-old daughter."
"I never drove with Chloe when I felt strange."
"You don't know when you feel strange."
He flinched.
Jessica immediately hated that she cared.
But caring did not erase betrayal.
Sloan's phone rang.
She answered.
Then looked toward David.
"We recovered traffic footage."
Jessica's pulse quickened.
"January nineteenth?"
"Yes."
At 4:12, David entered Union Station.
At 4:17, Thomas arrived.
Margaret arrived six minutes later.
At 4:29, Margaret left.
Thomas remained.
At 4:36, David appeared on camera beside him.
Father-in-law and son-in-law spoke.
Four minutes.
Then Thomas handed David something.
A black flash drive.
David watched the video.
His face emptied.
"I don't remember this."
Jessica stared at him.
"Where's the drive?"
"I don't know."
Sloan's phone buzzed again.
She read a message.
Then turned toward Jessica.
"Your apartment."
"What?"
"Agents searched it."
Jessica felt her heart accelerate.
"What did they find?"
"In David's desk."
Sloan held up an evidence photograph.
A black flash drive.
Jessica looked at David.
He whispered, "I've never seen that."
May you like
The drive was labeled in white marker.
CARTER SUCCESSION.
