Chapter 3
“Trace the call,” I shouted.
The line went dead.
Elena took my phone and immediately contacted the department’s technical unit.
The call had lasted eleven seconds.
It was not enough.
Travis had somehow reached me while sitting inside a secure interview room.
That meant someone had given him access to a phone.
Or the call had been recorded earlier and scheduled to reach me at exactly the right moment.
Either possibility proved planning.
Sergeant Collins locked down the station.
Every officer who had entered the evidence area was ordered to remain inside the building.
The access log showed only one name.
Officer Daniel Price.
Daniel had been assigned to the front desk for most of the night.
He had never entered the evidence vault.
His access card had.
When officers searched his locker, they found the card missing.
Daniel looked sick.
“I left it in my uniform pocket during dinner.”
“Who was near your locker?” Sergeant Collins asked.
“Half the shift.”
Security footage should have answered the question.
Instead, the camera covering the locker room hallway had stopped recording for seven minutes.
The brass key was gone.
The smartwatch remained in its sealed evidence bag.
Whoever entered the vault had wanted only the key.
Detective Ruiz returned to the hospital just before dawn.
“We have the warrant,” she said. “We’re going to the freight terminal.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“You’re compromised, Emily. Travis contacted your personal phone. Until we know how, you stay here.”
“He may have somebody waiting for you.”
“That’s why I’m taking twelve officers.”
Rachel sat up in bed.
“The locker is behind the old loading platform. Number 214.”
Elena turned toward her.
“How do you know?”
“Ben took me there once.”
“Why didn’t you say that before?”
“Because I wanted to forget it existed.”
Elena left with the search team.
Mason eventually fell asleep beside Rachel.
I sat near the door and watched the sun rise over Nashville.
At seven in the morning, our mother arrived.
Donna had driven from Murfreesboro after hearing about the arrest.
She rushed past me and hugged Rachel.
“My poor baby.”
Then she saw Mason’s bruises.
Her face collapsed.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Mason moved away from her.
Donna looked at me as if I had caused it.
“How did this happen?”
“Travis happened.”
“You told me they were having problems. You never said this.”
“I didn’t know how bad it was.”
“You’re a police officer.”
“I’m also not a mind reader.”
Rachel whispered, “Stop.”
Donna turned on her.
“Why did you stay with that man?”
Rachel stared at the blanket.
Donna’s anger disappeared as quickly as it had come.
She sat beside her and took her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“I thought I could keep Mason safe.”
“You should have come home.”
“Travis said you would take Mason away from me.”
Donna’s expression shifted.
“Why would he say that?”
“Because you told him I was unstable.”
The room became silent.
I looked at our mother.
“What did you do?”
Donna stood.
“I never said that.”
Rachel’s eyes filled with tears.
“You told him I had become too dependent on him. You said Mason needed consistency.”
“I was trying to help.”
“You spoke to Travis behind my back?”
“He called me. He said you were drinking.”
“I don’t drink.”
“I know that now.”
I stepped between them.
“How many times did you speak to him?”
Donna looked away.
“Maybe four.”
“Did you tell him about the hospital?”
“What hospital?”
“The night Rachel had a panic attack after Ben died.”
Donna’s silence answered me.
Rachel turned her face toward the wall.
Travis had not needed to dig through records.
Our mother had handed him the information.
Piece by piece.
Donna began crying.
“I thought he loved her.”
“No,” Rachel said. “You thought he was easier to believe than me.”
Before Donna could answer, Elena called.
The search team had reached locker 214.
The lock showed fresh scratches.
Someone had tried to force it open.
Inside, officers found a heavy steel box bolted to the floor.
The blue key would have opened it.
Without the key, they needed a locksmith.
“Any sign someone is watching?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
“Be careful.”
“Always.”
An hour later, the box was opened.
It was empty.
The interior had been wiped clean.
But underneath it, an officer found a loose section of flooring.
Beneath the floor was a plastic envelope.
Inside were three photographs and a memory card.
One photograph showed Ben standing beside Travis at the construction site where he later died.
The second showed Travis handing money to a man in a deputy’s uniform.
The third showed the deputy’s face.
Colin Mercer.
Elena sent the memory card directly to the digital forensics lab.
The photographs went into separate evidence bags.
For the first time, we had proof connecting Travis, Colin, and Ben before Ben’s death.
Then Hannah Reed called from the courthouse.
Travis’s attorney had requested an emergency bail hearing.
“He’s charged with violent offenses,” I said. “He shouldn’t be released.”
“Pike claims the smartwatch recording was illegally obtained.”
“Mason recorded it in his own home.”
“He also claims the injuries existed before Travis arrived.”
“That’s absurd.”
“It’s still an argument.”
“What about Rachel being locked in the bedroom?”
“Travis says the door jammed.”
I almost laughed.
“Rachel’s blood was on the inside handle.”
“Pike says she injured herself trying to force it.”
Every fact had been twisted before sunrise.
Hannah lowered her voice.
“Pike also filed a complaint against you.”
“For what?”
“Threatening Travis three months ago.”
“I warned him to stay away from Mason.”
“He says you used your position to harass him because you never approved of his relationship with Rachel.”
“I documented that conversation.”
“I know. But this is designed to create doubt.”
The bail hearing was scheduled for two that afternoon.
Rachel needed to testify.
When Hannah explained that to her, my sister panicked.
“I can’t face him.”
“You won’t be alone,” Hannah said.
“He’ll look at me.”
“You can look at the judge.”
“You don’t understand what happens when I disobey him.”
“He’s behind bars.”
Rachel shook her head.
“His hands don’t have to touch me for him to hurt me.”
Mason listened from the corner.
Then he walked to his mother.
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, sweetheart.”
“You told me being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t scared.”
Rachel broke down.
She held his face between her hands.
“You should never have needed to be this brave.”
At the courthouse, Pike tried to make Travis look harmless.
He described him as a hardworking man with deep community ties.
He called Mason confused.
He called Rachel emotionally fragile.
Then he called me vindictive.
Travis sat beside him in a clean white shirt.
He kept his eyes on Rachel.
She trembled so badly Hannah asked for a recess.
The judge denied it.
“Ms. Carter,” Hannah said, “did the defendant lock you inside your bedroom?”
Rachel looked at Travis.
He smiled.
It was barely visible.
But I saw it.
So did Mason.
My nephew rose from the front bench.
“Don’t look at him, Mom.”
The judge lifted his head.
Pike objected.
Hannah asked Rachel again.
My sister closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Travis’s smile disappeared.
“Did he threaten your son?”
“Yes.”
“Did he cause your injuries?”
Rachel’s voice cracked.
“Yes.”
Travis leaned toward Pike and whispered something.
Pike stood.
“Your Honor, we have newly obtained evidence that Ms. Carter invited my client to remain in the home and threatened to fabricate allegations if he ended their relationship.”
Rachel stared at him.
“That’s not true.”
Pike raised a printed page.
“These are text messages from her phone.”
Hannah demanded to inspect them.
The messages showed Rachel telling Travis she would destroy his life.
They appeared to have been sent three nights earlier.
Rachel looked at me helplessly.
“I never wrote those.”
Pike called her unreliable.
Hannah argued the messages had not been authenticated.
The judge agreed.
But the damage was done.
After forty minutes, bail was set at two hundred thousand dollars.
We believed Travis could never pay it.
We were wrong.
A bond was posted before the paperwork reached the jail.
The money came from Mercer Holdings.
Colin Mercer’s family company.
Travis walked out wearing an electronic ankle monitor shortly before sunset.
He was ordered to stay away from Rachel, Mason, and me.
He stood on the courthouse steps while reporters shouted questions.
Then he looked straight at my sister.
“You know this isn’t over,” he called.
Officers moved toward him.
Pike pulled him away before he could say more.
We returned to the hospital under police protection.
Rachel was discharged that evening.
Her house remained a crime scene, so I planned to take her and Mason to a confidential shelter.
Before we left, Elena called from the digital lab.
The memory card from Ben’s locker was damaged.
Technicians had recovered only six seconds of video.
It showed a dark construction yard.
Ben’s voice could be heard arguing.
Another man said, “If he talks, we all go down.”
The voice belonged to Travis.
Then a third man stepped into view.
Deputy Colin Mercer.
The image froze just as Colin reached toward Ben.
The remaining data was corrupted.
“It’s still evidence,” I said.
“Yes,” Elena replied. “But there’s a bigger problem.”
“What?”
“The lab technician who first handled the card has disappeared.”
My mouth went dry.
“Who was it?”
“Daniel Price’s younger brother.”
Before I could respond, the hospital fire alarm began screaming.
Nurses rushed into the hallway.
Smoke poured from a supply room near the elevators.
The officer guarding us moved to help evacuate patients.
I grabbed Mason.
Rachel followed.
As we reached the stairwell, a man in a firefighter’s jacket held the door open.
His helmet hid most of his face.
“Come this way,” he said.
Mason froze.
I felt his fingers tighten around mine.
Then he whispered the words that saved us.
“That’s Travis’s friend.”
The man reached inside his jacket.
I shoved Mason behind me and drew my weapon.
“Show me your hands.”
The stranger ran.
By the time officers cleared the stairs, he was gone.
But he had dropped something near the door.
May you like
A photograph of Rachel sleeping in her hospital bed.
It had been taken less than an hour earlier.
