Chương 5
“Marcus thought he smashed it.”
The room went very still.
“But he smashed the wrong one.”
Chloe watched Detective Calder as if the answer might disappear if she blinked.
“I had an old phone in the kitchen drawer,” she said.
“Working phone?”
“Mostly.”
“What does mostly mean?”
“It turns on if you keep it plugged in.”
Calder moved closer.
“Was it connected to your current account?”
“No.”
“Cell service?”
“No.”
“Wi-Fi?”
“Yes.”
“What did you use it for?”
“Music when I cooked.”
Her voice was getting weaker, but she pushed through it.
“Marcus grabbed my real phone from the coffee table.”
“Your current phone.”
“Yes.”
“He threw it down and stepped on it.”
Calder nodded.
“And the old phone?”
“I’d already turned on the voice recorder.”
“Why?”
Chloe looked embarrassed.
“Because I thought they were going to lie about me.”
There was something almost childlike in that admission.
Not because it was foolish, but because she still seemed ashamed of preparing for cruelty.
“Where did you put it?” Calder asked.
“Behind the flour canister.”
“In the kitchen?”
“Yes.”
“Was it still recording when you were taken from the house?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Marcus see it?”
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“No.”
Calder accepted that.
“Did anyone else see you place it there?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Where exactly is this flour canister?”
“On the counter beside the stand mixer.”
“Color?”
“White.”
“Anything distinctive?”
“It says FLOUR on it.”
Ruth muttered, “At least Sylvia labels carbohydrates.”
Calder looked at her.
Ruth covered her mouth.
Chloe gave another painful half-laugh.
The nurse did not.
“That is enough,” she said.
This time there was authority in her voice.
“Imaging is ready.”
Calder stepped back.
“I’m going to pursue preservation of the residence and the phone.”
Chloe’s fingers tightened around mine.
“They’re having people over.”
Calder paused.
“What time?”
“Dinner starts at one.”
“Who?”
“Marcus’s CEO.”
“Name?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Anyone else?”
“Clients, maybe.”
Chloe’s eyelids drooped.
“Sylvia invited a state senator.”
Calder’s expression did not change.
Mine probably did.
Political guests had a way of making stupid people feel protected and cautious people feel watched.
Neither reaction improved investigations.
Calder tucked away her notebook.
“Mrs. Vane, do not worry about who is having dinner.”
“Chloe,” she whispered.
“Chloe.”
Calder’s voice softened by one degree.
“Let us worry about the house.”
An orderly rolled Chloe away five minutes later.
I stood in the corridor watching until the doors closed.
Ruth came beside me.
“You’re thinking about going there.”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“Yes.”
“Better.”
I rubbed my thumb over the seam of my purse.
“My daughter says there may be a recording in a house occupied by two people who allegedly assaulted her and already destroyed one device.”
“Police know.”
“They also need legal authority.”
“Which you know.”
“I do.”
“Then behave like you know.”
I looked at her.
“When did you become reasonable?”
“When you became dangerous.”
That shut me up.
Calder returned from the nurses’ station holding her phone.
“I’ve spoken to my lieutenant.”
“And?”
“I’m applying for a warrant.”
“Based on what?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Ms. Hayes.”
“Habit.”
“Bad one.”
“I’ve had worse.”
She seemed to decide something.
“Probable cause is not my concern with you standing here.”
“Fair.”
“What I need from you is distance.”
“I can give you that.”
“No calls to Marcus.”
“I haven’t made any.”
“No calls to Halcyon.”
“I made one call to a former colleague to determine whether there was a federal conflict.”
Calder’s jaw set.
“When?”
“Before I knew about the alleged forged statement.”
“Who?”
“Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Ruiz.”
Her stare sharpened.
“What did you tell him?”
“My daughter had been assaulted, that Marcus worked at Halcyon, and I wanted to know whether Marcus had access to any protected investigative system.”
“You asked a federal prosecutor to check your son-in-law?”
“I asked a former colleague to tell me whether I needed to stay out of a potential federal matter.”
“And did he?”
“He told me Marcus works in internal integrity and may have access related to protected reports.”
“That’s more than I wanted you knowing.”
“So do I.”
Calder looked genuinely annoyed now.
Good investigators often were when civilians complicated clean lines of evidence.
Former prosecutors were particularly talented at it.
“What else did Ruiz tell you?”
“That Halcyon reported a possible unauthorized data transfer three weeks ago.”
She went still.
“From your daughter?”
“He refused to say.”
“Did he say she was involved?”
“No.”
“Did you infer it?”
“I wondered.”
“That matters.”
“I know.”
She studied me for several seconds.
“From this point forward, you tell me before you contact anyone connected to the facts.”
“I’m not under your supervision.”
“No.”
Her answer was immediate.
“But your daughter’s case is.”
That landed.
I nodded.
“Understood.”
Ruth waited until Calder walked away.
“I like her.”
“Of course you do.”
“She talks to you the way I do.”
“Exactly.”
My phone vibrated.
Marcus.
The name on the screen seemed almost obscene.
Ruth saw it.
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to answer.”
It rang until voicemail took it.
Then a text appeared.
Where is Chloe?
A second followed.
You need to call me immediately.
A third came twenty seconds later.
She is not well and she is lying to people.
I handed the phone to Calder when she returned.
Her irritation disappeared.
“Do not respond.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Screenshot these and forward them to the address I give you.”
“You want the device itself?”
“Eventually, perhaps.”
She looked at the screen again.
Another message arrived.
She attacked me last night and destroyed my mother’s property.
Then another.
We tried to help her.
Calder read them without expression.
Ruth leaned in.
“He types fast for a man hosting a CEO.”
“Ruth.”
“What?”
Calder handed back my phone.
“Keep receiving.”
“Should I turn off read receipts?”
“Are they on?”
“I don’t know.”
Ruth snorted.
“You prosecuted racketeering and can’t operate text settings.”
“I specialized.”
Calder almost smiled.
Almost.
May you like
“Leave everything as it is.”
My phone rang again.
