Chapter 7
I wasn't in the apartment when the phone lit up. I was still in the hospital bed with the blue blanket pulled up to my chin and the rabbit in both hands. Marcus told me later what happened in our kitchen, and I've played it over in my head so many times it feels like I was there.
He said the apartment smelled like old coffee and cleaning spray at 3:15 in the morning. The box was on the table where Deputy Harris had left it, taped shut with evidence tape. The bedroom door was still open where they'd found the loose board under my bed. Harris was taking pictures of everything, the flash popping against the dark walls.
Andrea stood by the kitchen counter holding a plastic bag with the burner phone inside. Marcus said she didn't want to touch it much.
Harris pulled on a fresh glove and tipped the phone out onto the counter. It was a cheap black flip phone, the kind you get at the gas station. He pressed the side button and the screen stayed black.
"Dead?" Andrea asked.
Harris shook his head and plugged a charger into the wall behind the toaster. "Let's see."
For a minute nothing happened. Marcus said he could hear the fridge humming and Harris's camera clicking. Then the little battery icon came on, red at first, then white. The phone buzzed once.
Harris flipped it open. The light from the screen lit up his face.
Three missed calls right on the front screen. All from the same number, no name, just ten digits. The times were 11:42 PM, 12:07 AM, 12:31 AM. All that night.
Andrea leaned in. "That's Ray?"
Harris nodded. "That's the number Sarah called out on the report last month. Ray Dunn."
He pressed the call log. There were more. Outgoing calls too. One was to 911 at 12:18 AM. It lasted nine seconds.
"Nine seconds," Harris said quietly. "She hung up or got cut off. No dispatch record. She didn't get through."
Marcus didn't say anything. He just stood with his arms crossed, his vest creaking a little.
Harris opened the voicemail app. There was one saved draft, not sent. He hit play and held the phone out so the little speaker crackled.
It was Mommy's voice. She sounded out of breath, like she'd been walking fast. She whispered.
"Marcus, it's Sarah. If you're getting this... if I don't come back, tell Lily to use the rabbit. The key's in the rabbit. Please don't let him get her before sunrise. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner."
The message cut off. Marcus's hands made fists when he heard it. Andrea put her hand on his arm for a second.
Harris swallowed and opened the texts. There was only one thread, with that same number.
Ray: Where is it Sarah
Ray: You took what's mine
Ray: Bring it back before sunrise or I come get what's mine. You know I will.
Ray: Don't make me come find Lily
Sarah had typed back once at 12:45 AM: Leave her alone. You'll get nothing.
Then nothing else from her. Two more texts from Ray after that, at 1:10 AM: Last chance and Clock's ticking.
Andrea read them out loud and her voice shook a little on the last one. "He wants documents or money," she said. "And he's using Lily to get Sarah to give it back. Sunrise is his deadline. That's why he said before sunrise."
Marcus asked, "Can you tell where Sarah was when she sent that?"
Harris tapped the little map icon on the phone. The phone had one location ping left, from when the data was still on. A blue dot sat on Highway 17, right on top of the Highway Diner and Truck Stop outside town.
"Last ping 12:51 AM," Harris said. "Right there. That's six miles from here. She was there after she texted him."
Andrea checked the clock on the microwave. 3:32 AM.
Marcus stared at the dot. "So she ran from here to there. And she was scared enough to try 911 and call me."
May you like
Harris closed the phone. "We got motive now. He wants that box back. She hid it to keep Lily safe. She ran to keep him away from Lily. And he's told us when he's coming back."
Andrea bagged the phone again. Marcus said the apartment felt colder after they heard Mommy's voice, like the night was pressing in from outside. They still had the box taped shut, they still hadn't opened what was inside it, but now they knew why Mommy hid it and why the bad man was coming before the sun came up.
