Chapter 14 - Frank's Tape
The cassette had been placed in the middle of the garage workbench.
No note.
No fingerprints we could see.
Just Frank's handwriting on the label.
LINDA - 6/14/94.
Mark found an old cassette player in his office and brought it over.
We listened with a deputy present.
At first there was static.
Then Frank's voice.
"Tell me what happened."
Linda sounded younger, but it was unmistakably her.
"She wouldn't stop crying."
"What did you do?"
"I fed her."
"Elaine says you forced the bottle."
Silence.
Frank again: "Did you pour milk on her?"
Linda's answer came quietly.
"She needed to learn."
Ryan stood and walked out of the room.
The tape continued.
Frank asked why there were bruises near Anna's jaw.
Linda cried. She blamed panic. She said she squeezed Anna trying to make her swallow.
Then came the sentence that made my blood run cold.
"You cannot tell anyone, Frank. They'll take Ryan. And if they take my son, I swear I'll make sure he remembers this as your fault."
The tape clicked off.
Nobody spoke.
A deputy finally said, "This is old evidence, but combined with what happened today, it matters."
Ryan returned from the hall.
His eyes were red.
"She left it here on purpose."
"Why would she give us evidence?" I asked.
He pointed at the empty cassette case.
"Because she wants us to think this is the only copy."
Mark slowly shook his head.
"Frank made three."
"Where are the others?"
Mark looked toward the locked drawer.
"One went to a bank box. The other went to someone named in Frank's will."
"Who?"
Mark swallowed.
"Anna's godmother. Elaine Foster."
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Then my phone buzzed with a new text from Elaine.
SHE'S HERE.
