Chapter 9 - The Husband's Second Phone
By Christmas evening, the penthouse no longer felt like a home.
Investigators came and went.
Computers were photographed.
Documents were secured.
Margaret's attorney arrived and advised silence.
Richard ignored him.
David moved between rooms like a man discovering his childhood had been built on false walls.
Jessica focused on Chloe.
They left the penthouse at six.
She booked a hotel instead of returning home.
David followed them downstairs.
"Jess."
Jessica turned.
"Not tonight."
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere Chloe can sleep."
"I want to come."
Chloe tightened her grip on Jessica's hand.
Jessica noticed.
So did David.
His expression broke.
"Does she not want me?"
Jessica did not answer for her daughter.
David crouched.
"Chloe?"
The child looked at Jessica first.
Then David.
"Are you mad at Mommy?"
David swallowed.
"No."
"Are you mad at me?"
His eyes filled.
"No, baby."
Chloe stared at him.
"Why didn't you help me?"
Jessica looked away.
Some questions belonged to the person who failed.
David remained crouched.
"I should have."
"Why didn't you?"
"I was scared."
Chloe frowned.
"You're big."
David closed his eyes.
Jessica felt no triumph.
Only sadness.
"I know."
Chloe held Jessica's hand tighter.
"I want Mommy."
David nodded.
"Okay."
He stood.
Jessica began walking.
Then David called after her.
"Wait."
He reached into his coat pocket.
A phone.
Not his normal phone.
Jessica stopped.
"What is that?"
"I found it in my briefcase."
"When?"
"This morning."
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
Jessica stared at him.
David unlocked it.
No passcode.
Only one message appeared.
DO NOT LET JESSICA SPEAK TO RICHARD ALONE.
Jessica looked up.
"Who sent that?"
"I don't know."
The message showed no sender identity.
Below it was another.
IF SHE FINDS OUT WHAT HAPPENED IN 2003, EVERYTHING ENDS.
Jessica took the phone.
"Why didn't you show Sloan?"
David hesitated.
Wrong answer.
Jessica's eyes hardened.
"What else is on it?"
"Nothing."
"David."
"That's all."
She scrolled.
Photos.
Most were ordinary pictures of Hawthorne Tower construction.
Then she found one taken from a distance.
Jessica leaving her Army office.
Another.
Chloe at school.
Another.
Jessica and Chloe entering a grocery store.
Her blood turned cold.
"How long has this phone been in your briefcase?"
"I don't know."
She swiped again.
The last photograph had been taken three days earlier.
It showed Jessica entering her apartment building.
Across the bottom, someone had typed:
SHE STILL DOESN'T KNOW.
Jessica called Sloan immediately.
Twenty minutes later, federal agents were reviewing the phone.
David sat on a hotel lobby chair with his head in his hands.
Jessica stood by the window.
Sloan approached.
"We found something."
Jessica turned.
"The phone was purchased six months ago with cash."
"Camera metadata?"
"Stripped."
"What about the messages?"
"Routing is complicated."
Jessica waited.
Sloan lowered her voice.
"There's one more photograph."
She handed Jessica the device.
The picture showed Thomas Carter.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Alive.
May you like
Standing on a train platform.
The timestamp was eleven months old.
