Chapter 8 - THE GARAGE
Sarah heard the fear in Jason’s voice.
Not the nervousness of a man caught lying.
“Why not?”
“Sarah, leave it alone.”
Deputy Harris stepped toward the garage.
“What’s in there?”
Jason closed his eyes.
Linda shouted from the hallway, “You have no warrant for the garage.”
Harris looked at Sarah.
“Do I have the homeowner’s consent?”
“Yes.”
Linda cursed.
The garage smelled like gasoline and cut grass.
Then Sarah saw her old blue suitcase behind a stack of moving boxes.
She hadn’t used it since their honeymoon.
“Open that.”
Jason pulled against the cuffs.
“Sarah.”
Sarah’s clothes.
Five thousand dollars in cash.
And a printed bus ticket to Nashville dated Monday morning.
Tessa covered her mouth.
“They were making it look like you ran.”
Sarah felt dizzy.
Harris removed another envelope.
Inside was a handwritten note.
I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE. JASON IS A GOOD FATHER. MILES IS BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME.
The signature at the bottom was another imitation of hers.
Sarah’s voice barely worked.
“You were going to tell my son I abandoned him.”
Jason looked up at her.
“No.”
“Then explain my passport.”
“I didn’t put that there.”
Linda screamed from inside the house.
“He’s lying!”
Jason twisted around.
“Shut up, Mom!”
The alliance was breaking.
Harris found a cheap prepaid phone in the suitcase.
After she’s out, leave suitcase at station locker. Ticket and note stay inside.
Sarah stared at Raymond Cole through the open garage door.
The deputy near him stepped closer.
Ray raised both hands.
“I’m an attorney.”
“Congratulations,” Harris said. “Don’t move.”
Sarah’s phone buzzed again.
THIS IS BIGGER THAN JASON.
WHO ARE YOU?
The reply arrived immediately.
SOMEONE WHO ALMOST LOST HER HOUSE THE SAME WAY.
Then a photograph appeared.
Linda, Ray, and a woman Sarah did not know stood outside another suburban home.
The date stamp was five years earlier.
May you like
Under it were four words.
YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST.
