Chương 11
That disturbed me more than if she had looked sinister.
“What did she buy?”
“Microspikes, thermal gloves, hand warmers, and a compact emergency blanket.”
I frowned.
“She was preparing for the cold.”
“Yes.”
“For herself.”
“That appears likely.”
“And nothing for me.”
Brooks did not answer.
She did not need to.
I had been wearing maternity hiking boots with worn soles because Michael said the trail would be easy.
I remembered him checking my footwear by the front door.
He had looked down once and said, “Those should be fine.”
Ashley had bought traction equipment two days earlier.
My stomach tightened.
“Can you prove she wore the spikes?”
“We may not need to.”
“She was above me.”
“I know.”
“She planned not to slip.”
“That purchase helps establish preparation.”
“For surviving the mountain.”
“Yes.”
The next item was worse.
Ashley had also bought two disposable rain ponchos.
“Why ponchos?”
Brooks said nothing.
Snow.
Moisture.
Clothing.
Something clicked.
“To keep blood off?”
“We don’t know.”
The idea made me nauseated.
“Maybe they thought I might fight.”
“Claire.”
“Or maybe they expected to move me.”
“We are not filling gaps with possibilities.”
I shoved the phone away.
Brooks let the silence settle.
After a moment, she said, “There is one more thing.”
I looked at her.
“Ashley used a rewards account.”
I stared.
“She did what?”
“She entered her phone number at checkout.”
A laugh burst out of me.
It hurt enough that I grabbed my incision.
Brooks stared.
I laughed harder.
Tears came.
“Claire.”
“She bought murder supplies with loyalty points.”
“They are not murder supplies.”
“I know.”
I could barely speak.
“That makes it worse.”
The laughter became sobbing without warning.
I bent forward.
Brooks moved beside me but did not touch me.
“He almost killed my baby.”
“Yes.”
“And she wanted the discount.”
Brooks waited until I could breathe again.
The absurdity had cracked something open.
Not relief.
Something uglier.
People did monstrous things while still remembering coupons.
Ashley had not transformed into a different species when she decided I should die.
She had remained a woman who collected store rewards.
Michael had remained a man who complained about slow Wi-Fi and left wet towels on the bathroom floor.
That frightened me more than monsters ever could.
At five that evening, Brooks received authorization for investigators to approach Ashley’s cousin again with the burner phone evidence.
This time, the cousin stopped protecting her.
Her name was Jenna Bennett.
She worked as a dental hygienist and had two children.
She had believed Ashley was having an affair with a married man and needed privacy for an afternoon.
Ashley had paid her two hundred dollars to take her regular phone to lunch, shopping, and a movie.
Jenna thought the point was to create the appearance that Ashley was somewhere else.
She had not asked why.
“That’s not innocent,” I said.
“No.”
“But she didn’t know about murder.”
“We have no evidence she did.”
“What did Ashley tell her afterward?”
Brooks looked at the statement.
“That everything had gone fine.”
My skin crawled.
“What else?”
“Jenna says Ashley seemed excited.”
“Excited how?”
“She brought champagne to Jenna’s apartment that night.”
I stared at Brooks.
“After leaving me on the mountain.”
“Yes.”
“And they drank?”
“Jenna says she had one glass.”
“Ashley?”
“Several.”
“What did she say?”
Brooks hesitated.
“What?”
“She toasted to new beginnings.”
For a second, the room became too small.
I stood.
Brooks watched me cross to the window.
Streetlights were coming on below.
“Where is Ashley now?”
“At your house.”
“With Michael?”
“Yes.”
“Sleeping in my bed?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do.”
My hand pressed against the cold glass.
Everything in me wanted to go there.
Not carefully.
Not legally.
I wanted to open my own front door and watch their faces.
I wanted Michael to see the dead woman standing in his hallway.
Brooks spoke behind me.
“Don’t.”
I turned.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I could end this.”
“No.”
“I walk in alive and their story collapses.”
“Their story changes.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A good defense lawyer.”
I hated that answer because it was true.
Brooks stood.
“If you appear now, Michael says the fall was an accident.”
“He pushed me.”
“He says you’re confused from trauma.”
“I heard them.”
“He says Ashley wasn’t there.”
“The burner places her there.”
“Near there.”
“The store proves preparation.”
“It proves she bought winter gear.”
“Rebecca proves motive.”
“She proves Michael asked questions.”
I clenched my hands.
Brooks stepped closer.
“You have more today than you had yesterday.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Maybe more.”
“Maybe less.”
“Yes.”
I turned back to the window.
A siren passed somewhere below.
“I’m tired of being dead.”
“I know.”
“I want my sister.”
“I know.”
“I want my house.”
“I know.”
“I want my son to have a father who didn’t try to kill him.”
Brooks did not answer that one.
There was nothing to say.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen and answered immediately.
“Brooks.”
Her posture changed while she listened.
“How credible?”
A pause.
“Get the warrant moving.”
She ended the call.
I turned from the window.
“What happened?”
Her expression had gone completely still.
“Forensics recovered another deleted message from the burner.”
My heartbeat thudded once.
“What does it say?”
Brooks looked at me.
“‘Tomorrow, make sure she goes over where nobody can reach her.’”
I stopped breathing.
“Who sent it?”
“We still need attribution.”
“But it was sent to Ashley’s burner.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night before the hike.”
I felt the room settle around me.
No ambiguity.
No strange estate question.
No joke.
No coincidence.
Just a sentence.
Plain and ugly.
“What happens now?”
Brooks reached for her coat.
“Now we find the phone that sent it.”
“And if it’s Michael’s?”
Her eyes met mine.
“Then your husband’s funeral performance becomes the least of his problems.”
May you like
Brooks left before I could ask another question.
For the next hour, I tried not to imagine what investigators were doing.
