Chapter 4 - The Phone in the Flour
The missing phone changed the investigation.
Until then, every clue could be explained away as coincidence, confusion, or family tension.
A secret device suggested Megan had been collecting something she did not trust enough to keep on her regular phone.
Thomas sat in a hospital consultation room while Ortiz asked him the same question three different ways.
"Did Megan ever mention a second phone?"
"No."
"Did she have reason to hide communications from you?"
"Not that I know of."
"Could it have been related to another relationship?"
Thomas stared at her.
"If you're asking whether she was having an affair, ask it."
Ortiz did not look embarrassed.
"Was she?"
"No."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I know my wife."
The sentence sounded weak the moment he said it.
Yesterday he would have sworn Megan had no secret phone.
Yesterday he would have sworn Judith would never endanger her own daughter.
Yesterday felt like another life.
Ortiz folded her hands.
"People hide phones for many reasons."
"Some are personal."
"Some are financial."
"Some are safety-related."
Thomas leaned forward.
"Megan was afraid of something."
"Maybe."
"You found an inventory."
"She knew what she had."
Ortiz nodded but gave no more.
Thomas was allowed to see Megan that afternoon.
She remained unconscious, but the doctors said her numbers were improving.
He sat beside her and talked because silence had become unbearable.
He told her Eli was awake.
He told her Eli had asked for his baseball cap.
He told her the kitchen faucet still made the clicking sound she hated.
Then he lowered his voice.
"What were you hiding from me?"
He hated himself for asking.
Megan did not move.
"Whatever it was, I don't care."
"Just wake up and tell me."
When Thomas returned to Eli's room, the boy was eating crackers and watching cartoons without sound.
Judith sat beside him.
Her handbag rested on the chair near the window.
Thomas stopped in the doorway.
"How did you get in here?"
Judith looked at him coolly.
"I'm family."
"So am I."
Eli glanced between them.
Thomas forced his voice down.
"Can I speak to you outside?"
Judith stood slowly.
"Anything you can say to me, you can say here."
"No."
The firmness in Thomas's voice finally moved her.
They stepped into the hall.
"You were at our house yesterday," Thomas said.
Judith did not blink.
"Of course I was."
"Why didn't you tell police?"
"They didn't ask me for a minute-by-minute diary."
"You were there almost three hours."
Judith crossed her arms.
"Megan asked me to come over."
"Why?"
"That's between me and my daughter."
Thomas took one step closer.
"Not anymore."
Judith's eyes hardened.
"You think because Eli mumbled something while half-conscious that you can point at me?"
Thomas went still.
"How do you know what Eli said?"
For the first time, Judith looked uncertain.
Only for a second.
Then she recovered.
"You told the detective, and detectives ask questions."
"Ortiz hasn't told you that."
"You don't know what she told me."
Thomas stared at her.
Judith lowered her voice.
"Be very careful."
"Your wife is in intensive care."
"Your son is frightened."
"And the police are asking why your fingerprints were on the poisoned pitcher."
Thomas's hands curled into fists.
"Are you threatening me?"
Judith smiled without warmth.
"I'm reminding you what this looks like."
Ortiz appeared at the far end of the hall before Thomas answered.
Judith walked away without another word.
The detective watched her go.
"I told you not to confront her."
"She knew what Eli said."
Ortiz's gaze sharpened.
"Exactly what did she say?"
Thomas repeated the conversation.
Ortiz wrote it down.
"Where's Eli now?"
"In his room."
They both turned.
The bed was empty.
Thomas ran inside.
The bathroom door was open.
The window was sealed.
A nurse rushed in behind him.
"He was here thirty seconds ago."
Thomas's heartbeat exploded.
Then a small voice came from the hallway.
"Dad?"
Eli stood beside a vending machine holding the hand of another nurse.
Thomas crossed the distance in three steps and dropped to his knees.
"You scared me."
Eli looked confused.
"I wanted water."
Ortiz crouched beside them.
"Eli, did Grandma say anything to you before she left?"
The boy's face closed immediately.
"No."
"It's okay if she did."
"She said not to talk about the kitchen because I might remember wrong."
Thomas felt anger climb his throat.
Ortiz stayed calm.
"Did she say anything else?"
Eli nodded reluctantly.
"She asked if Mom still hides things in the flour."
Thomas stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
Eli shrugged.
"Mom puts stuff in the big flour jar when she doesn't want Grandma to see."
Thomas stood so fast he nearly knocked over the vending machine display.
Ortiz was already reaching for her phone.
Police returned to the house within the hour.
Inside the pantry, on the highest shelf, sat a white ceramic canister labeled FLOUR.
The flour inside looked untouched.
An officer emptied it carefully into an evidence tray.
Near the bottom, wrapped in two plastic bags, was a small black smartphone.
The battery was dead.
Ortiz looked at Thomas.
"Whatever your wife was hiding, we may finally know why someone came back."
The phone was taken to the digital evidence unit.
Three hours later, Ortiz called Thomas from the hospital lobby.
"We got it powered on."
"What's on it?"
There was a pause.
"Photos of bank statements."
"Copies of emails."
"And fourteen audio recordings."
Thomas gripped the phone tighter.
"Of who?"
May you like
Ortiz's next answer turned suspicion into something much larger.
"Your mother-in-law and Nathan Cole."
