Chapter 3 - THE RECORDING
Evan held his phone as though it weighed fifty pounds.
“I started recording when Sylvia called Anna a servant.”
David stepped toward him.
“That was a private family conversation.”
A trooper moved between them.
“Stay where you are.”
Evan swallowed.
“I thought Sylvia was joking at first.”
“Then Anna asked for help.”
“Then I heard the impact in the kitchen.”
His eyes moved toward me.
“I should have done something sooner.”
David spoke through clenched teeth.
“Think carefully about your career before you hand that over.”
Evan stared at him.
“Is that a threat?”
“It is professional advice.”
Agent Monroe extended her hand.
“Mr. Pierce, I can preserve the recording and provide you with a receipt.”
Evan unlocked his phone.
David lunged forward.
Two troopers grabbed him before he reached it.
The room erupted.
Sylvia screamed that her son was being attacked.
David twisted against the officers.
“I am an officer of the court.”
“You cannot seize privileged communication.”
Agent Monroe took the phone from Evan.
“A Christmas dinner is not privileged communication.”
David stopped struggling.
His eyes found mine.
The hatred in them was different now.
Before the call, he had looked at me as weak.
After the call, he looked at me as dangerous.
The paramedics rolled me outside.
Cold air struck my face.
Snow had begun falling across the front lawn, soft and bright beneath the flashing emergency lights.
Neighbors stood behind curtains and on porches.
David had refused to call an ambulance because he feared people would talk.
Now three patrol cars, an ambulance, and two black federal vehicles filled the street.
Everyone was watching.
Inside the ambulance, the paramedic connected an intravenous line to my arm.
“Your blood pressure is dropping.”
“Is my baby alive?”
“There is a heartbeat.”
His pause lasted half a second too long.
“We need to get you to surgery.”
The rear doors were about to close when Agent Monroe appeared.
“Anna, your father is flying in.”
“I don’t want him interfering.”
“He gave the same instruction.”
She placed a small evidence bag beside me.
Inside was my broken phone.
“We recovered it.”
“The call remained connected long enough to record several statements.”
I turned my head toward the house.
David stood in the doorway between two officers.
Sylvia clutched his arm.
Neither of them looked frightened anymore.
They looked furious.
Agent Monroe followed my gaze.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Your husband told the officers that you have a history of mental instability.”
My chest tightened.
“That’s a lie.”
“He says tonight was a self-inflicted accident.”
The ambulance doors began closing.
Agent Monroe leaned closer.
“Then we will prove it.”
The doors shut.
As the ambulance pulled away, a monitor beside me began sounding a high, urgent alarm.
The paramedic pressed his hand against my shoulder.
“Anna, stay with me.”
May you like
The last thing I saw was David’s house disappearing behind snow and red light.
Then everything went black.
