Chapter 9 - The Black Phone
The police didn’t search Vanessa’s house that night.
But they didn’t forget about the phone either.
By midnight, Mia and I were finally home.
Her ruined princess dress sat inside the plastic bag on my kitchen table.
I wanted to throw it away.
Mia wouldn’t let me.
“Why keep it?” I asked.
She touched the bag.
“Because it proves I didn’t imagine it.”
That sentence nearly broke me.
“You never have to prove pain to me.”
She looked up.
“Even if Dad says something different?”
I sat beside her.
“Even then.”
She nodded.
Then she leaned into me.
Five minutes later she fell asleep against my shoulder.
I carried her to bed.
At 1:17 a.m., someone knocked on my door.
Hard.
Three times.
I checked the camera.
Daniel.
I opened it halfway.
“Mia’s asleep.”
“I know.”
“What do you want?”
He looked wrecked.
“I need to tell you something.”
“That seems to be a popular activity tonight.”
He flinched.
Good.
“I went through old messages from Vanessa.”
“And?”
“She’s been feeding me things for years.”
I didn’t speak.
Daniel held out his phone.
Texts.
Dozens.
Claire forgot Mia’s jacket again.
Mia looked exhausted. Is Claire keeping her up?
Mia says she hates going back to Claire’s.
You should document everything in case custody becomes an issue.
My stomach turned.
“I never said that,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“No, you didn’t know. That’s the problem.”
He looked down.
“You’re right.”
I hated how much I had wanted to hear those words.
They didn’t feel good now.
“They started right after the divorce,” he said.
“Of course they did.”
“I thought she was helping.”
“She was trying to destroy me.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
That answer surprised me.
He swallowed.
“And I let her.”
Silence.
Then he said, “There’s something else.”
“What?”
“I called Scott.”
Vanessa’s husband.
“He answered?”
“No. Ava did.”
My chest tightened.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s at her grandmother’s now.”
“Good.”
Daniel looked over his shoulder.
Then lowered his voice.
“Ava says Vanessa came home before the police contacted her again.”
“What?”
“She went straight to the office.”
My stomach dropped.
“The black phone.”
Daniel nodded.
“Ava thinks she took it.”
“Where?”
“She doesn’t know.”
I grabbed my phone.
“We need to tell Ramirez.”
“I already did.”
“Then why are you here?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because Vanessa texted me ten minutes ago.”
He turned his screen around.
One sentence.
You should tell Claire to back off before people learn what she’s been hiding too.
I stared at it.
Daniel frowned.
“What is she talking about?”
I had no idea.
Then another message appeared.
This one had an attachment.
A photograph.
Of me.
Standing outside a lawyer’s office.
Taken six months earlier.
Daniel looked at the picture.
Then at me.
“Claire…”
May you like
His voice changed.
“Why was Vanessa following you?”
