Chapter 6 - THE TAPE
Claire stopped breathing.
Dana’s eyes dropped to the stuffed rabbit in her hands.
Ray laughed through the phone.
“Still think nobody’s watching you?”
Claire looked around.
Cars.
Windows.
Rooftops.
Every shadow suddenly felt alive.
Dana mouthed, Keep him talking.
Claire swallowed.
“What do you want, Ray?”
“You know what I want.”
“You lied.”
“No.”
“You put my husband in prison.”
“Your husband put himself there.”
“You testified that Ethan brought the gun.”
“He did.”
Claire looked at Dana.
Dana shook her head slowly.
Don’t argue.
Claire changed course.
“Then why are you scared of the video?”
Silence.
There.
For the first time, Ray had nothing.
Claire pushed.
“What’s on it, Ray?”
“You don’t know?”
“I want to hear you say it.”
He laughed again, but the confidence was gone.
“You always thought you were smarter than everybody.”
“No. Just smarter than you.”
Dana’s eyebrows rose.
Claire didn’t care anymore.
Three years of court dates.
Three years of Rosie growing up without her father.
Three years of Ethan calling from prison pretending he was okay.
Three years of Ray living free.
She was done being polite.
Ray’s voice hardened.
“Give me the drive.”
“Come get it.”
Dana grabbed Claire’s wrist.
Claire ignored her.
“You know where I am.”
“Claire,” Ray warned.
“What?”
“You got a baby now.”
Everything inside Claire went still.
Dana immediately signaled the deputy.
Trace it.
The deputy rushed inside.
Claire’s voice dropped.
“You say one more word about my daughter.”
“Easy.”
“No. You listen to me.”
Rosie stared up at her from the car seat.
Claire’s hands trembled, but her voice didn’t.
“You took three years from my husband. You took the birth of his child. You took birthdays. Christmas mornings. First steps. First words.”
Ray breathed into the phone.
“You’re talking like Ethan’s innocent.”
“He is.”
“You weren’t there.”
“Neither was your conscience.”
Ray snapped.
“He wasn’t supposed to fight Marcus!”
Dana’s head shot up.
Claire froze.
“What?”
Ray realized what he’d said.
Too late.
Claire whispered, “What was supposed to happen?”
Nothing.
“Ray?”
Then he said quietly:
“Marcus was only supposed to scare him.”
Dana was already recording.
“Why?” Claire asked.
Ray breathed hard.
“Because Ethan saw something he shouldn’t have.”
Claire stared at Dana.
“What did he see?”
Ray hung up.
The deputy ran outside.
“We got a partial trace.”
“Where?”
“Near the old freight district.”
Dana immediately grabbed the flash drive.
“Give me this.”
Claire hesitated.
“Now.”
Claire handed it over.
Dana rushed inside with the deputy.
Claire sat in the car, shaking.
Something Ethan saw.
What could Ethan have seen?
Then she remembered.
Two weeks before the shooting, Ethan had come home angry.
He’d said Ray showed up at the warehouse looking for him.
Claire had asked why.
Ethan said, “No idea. Guy’s acting weird.”
That night, Ethan had mentioned something else.
A truck parked behind the warehouse.
No plates.
Boxes being loaded after midnight.
Ethan had joked that Ray was finally dumb enough to become a criminal.
Claire hadn’t thought about it since.
Her phone buzzed.
A text.
From Ethan’s old number.
The number disconnected three years ago.
STOP DIGGING OR YOUR HUSBAND DIES TONIGHT.
Attached was a photograph.
Ethan.
May you like
Inside the prison.
Taken less than five minutes earlier.
