Chương 9
“I know that now.”
I hated the shame in her voice.
I leaned forward.
“Kayla.”
She looked at me.
“None of this sounds obvious when you’re standing inside it.”
Her eyes flickered.
“That’s the problem.”
I knew those words were true before I finished saying them.
People liked danger best in retrospect.
Afterward, every warning looked bright.
Every mistake looked stupid.
Inside the moment, most things were gray.
You had bills.
You had supervisors.
You had a shift starting in ten minutes.
You had a man smiling and telling you that you were misunderstanding him.
You had rent due Friday.
You went back to work.
Pamela asked Kayla whether she had saved any messages from Derek.
Kayla nodded.
“He texted me from two numbers.”
“Do you still have them?”
“I blocked both.”
“Blocking doesn’t necessarily delete the messages.”
“I know.”
She took out her phone.
Her fingers trembled as she unlocked it.
Then she stopped.
“I don’t want Calvin seeing any of this.”
“He won’t.”
“What about corporate?”
Pamela’s expression tightened.
“I can’t promise nobody in corporate will review relevant material.”
Kayla’s face closed.
Pamela continued.
“I can promise I’ll limit who receives it as much as I can, and you can speak to legal before providing anything beyond what law enforcement requests.”
Kayla nodded slowly.
“That’s different.”
“It is.”
She opened the messages.
The first thread was mostly harmless at a glance.
Derek asking when the next delivery was.
Derek complaining that receiving took too long.
A thumbs-up reaction.
Then the tone changed.
You working tonight?
No answer.
You mad at me?
No answer.
Saw your little silver car.
Kayla’s breathing changed.
I looked away from the phone and toward the office door.
Pamela said, “Do you want to stop?”
“No.”
“You can.”
“I know.”
That mattered too.
Knowing you could stop was sometimes the only way to continue.
She scrolled farther.
One message read, You don’t have to act scared around me.
Another said, Morgan needs to mind her own business.
I leaned toward the screen.
“When was that sent?”
Kayla checked.
“Yesterday.”
Pamela looked at me.
“Before or after Calvin spoke to Derek?”
“I don’t know.”
“We can establish that.”
Kayla scrolled again.
Then she froze.
“What?”
I asked.
She did not answer.
Pamela leaned closer.
The message was from Derek.
Tonight should be easier.
My skin prickled.
“What does that mean?”
Kayla whispered.
Pamela’s face had gone still.
“When was it sent?”
“Eleven forty-eight.”
I did the math automatically.
A little over two hours before they surrounded my car.
“Did you respond?”
“No.”
“Did he send anything after?”
Kayla scrolled.
One final message.
Your friend won’t be a problem much longer.
Nobody spoke.
I could hear the floor machine outside the office moving back and forth.
A soft mechanical whine.
Turn.
Whine.
Turn.
The ordinary sound made the message worse.
Pamela stood.
“I’m getting the sheriff.”
Kayla grabbed her wrist.
“Wait.”
Pamela stopped.
Kayla let go immediately.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, I mean, I don’t want everybody coming in here.”
Pamela nodded.
“I’ll bring Mercer alone.”
She left.
Kayla stared at the phone.
“I thought he meant you’d get transferred.”
I looked at her.
“That’s what you thought when you saw it?”
“I don’t know what I thought.”
Her voice cracked.
“I didn’t think he meant this.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have sent it to you.”
“No.”
“I should have told somebody.”
“You told Calvin.”
“That didn’t count.”
“It should have.”
Kayla pressed both palms against her eyes.
“I hate that I sound like some idiot in a training video.”
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“You sound like somebody who had to keep working.”
She lowered her hands.
“That sounds depressing.”
“It is.”
She almost smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“Were you really military?”
The question caught me off guard.
I looked at the closed door.
“Mercer recognized something.”
“So did Teresa.”
“Teresa recognizes everything.”
“That’s true.”
Kayla hesitated.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
I rubbed my thumb over the hidden tattoo.
“I was Navy.”
Her eyes moved to my wrist.
“That symbol?”
“It belonged to a community inside the Navy.”
She waited for more.
I gave her none.
She nodded.
“You were good at fighting.”
“I was good at staying alive.”
The answer came out harder than I intended.
Kayla looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
I exhaled.
“That wasn’t about you.”
A knock came at the door.
Mercer entered with Pamela.
He saw Kayla’s phone on the desk.
“What do we have?”
Pamela told him.
He asked Kayla if she would show him the messages directly.
She did.
Mercer read them without touching the phone.
His face changed at the last two.
“Kayla, I need Deputy Collins to photograph these and document them.”
She nodded.
“Will Derek know I gave them to you?”
“Eventually, his attorney may receive discovery if charges are filed.”
Kayla swallowed.
“Okay.”
“You don’t have to decide this second.”
“No.”
She straightened.
“I want them saved.”
Mercer nodded.
“I’ll bring Collins in.”
Before he left, he looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Really?”
His mouth tightened.
“Bad choice of words.”
“Yes.”
“Would you please remain here for five minutes?”
“That’s better.”
Pamela looked between us but said nothing.
Mercer left.
Kayla said, “You two are weird.”
I almost laughed.
Pamela actually did.
It was brief, but it surprised all three of us.
Then Pamela’s phone buzzed.
She checked the screen and her expression changed.
“What?”
I asked.
“Corporate security.”
She answered.
“Yes, this is Ortiz.”
She listened.
Her eyes moved to me.
Then to Kayla.
“How many?”
A pause.
“No, preserve everything.”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
She turned away slightly.
“I understand.”
When she ended the call, her face looked older.
“What did they find?”
I asked.
Pamela stared at the phone for a second.
“The exterior camera ticket was closed nine days ago.”
“What does closed mean?”
“Marked repaired.”
I thought of the dark indicator light.
“But it wasn’t repaired.”
“No.”
May you like
“Who closed it?”
Pamela looked at me.
