Chapter 14 - The Statement She Prepared
I read the first sentence and had to look away.
Emma Whitaker tragically passed away after an accidental fall in her kitchen.
The rest expressed Brianna's love for me and begged the public to respect the family's grief.
It was the kind of statement written for a press release, not for a woman Brianna had supposedly rushed to help.
Ortiz told me the draft alone did not establish what Brianna intended.
Its creation date, surrounding messages, and the context of the assault would matter.
But I could not stop picturing her typing my name, leaving a blank for the day, and choosing flattering words about herself.
Ryan sat beside the hospital window for a long time.
“She used to borrow twenty bucks from me in middle school,” he said finally. “I thought I was taking care of her.”
“You were her brother.”
“And I became her excuse.”
His phone rang.
Diane's name lit the screen.
He answered with Ortiz in the room and told his mother the call might be documented.
“You've gone too far,” he said.
“Your wife is turning you against your blood.”
“My children are your blood.”
“Brianna never meant—”
“Stop telling me what she meant. Tell me what she did.”
Diane's voice rose.
She called me vindictive and accused Mrs. Alvarez of stirring trouble.
Then she said something so strange that even Ortiz leaned forward.
“That camera was supposed to be off before Brianna got there.”
Ryan glanced at me.
“How would you know when it should have been off?” he asked.
Diane hung up.
I had spent days terrified that the missing recording hub meant the evidence was gone forever.
Ortiz picked up her phone and asked the forensic technician to check a second storage source in the camera itself.
May you like
A few minutes later, she received an answer.
“The device has an internal memory card,” she said. “And nobody removed it.”
