Chapter 6 - The Woman in the Parking Lot
Malcolm reached Ben Carter's office before Sloane did. He didn't confront her. He waited in his truck across the street and called Officer Alvarez.
"You shouldn't be following anyone," Alvarez told him. "Give me the address. Stay where you are."
Malcolm did. Twenty minutes later, Sloane walked into the building carrying a leather tote. She came out without it.
Ben Carter was an exhausted man with a coffee stain on his shirt and no patience for family drama. He told Alvarez he hadn't knowingly kept surveillance footage. He kept configuration backups and service tickets, not private recordings.
"But this is odd," Ben said when he reviewed the account. "Someone requested a service visit two days ago, then canceled it five minutes later. They used Mrs. Ellison's credentials."
"Ruth's credentials?" Malcolm asked. "My mother doesn't use the camera app."
"I don't even have the password to your thermostat," I told him when he called me.
Ben printed the activity log for the officer. The account was accessed from Sloane's office tablet. The local recorder stayed untouched until police obtained access.
That night Malcolm stood beside my bed while I listened to the toy bird he'd brought from the piano. He had found fresh batteries at a drugstore. When he pressed its stomach, the bird crackled.
A voice chirped, "Birds are meant to sing!" It was my late husband's voice, as bright as if he were in the room.
I turned away. Grief sneaks up on a person when she is busy surviving.
Maya opened her eyes from the chair. "Grandpa put more words in it," she whispered. "I made Mommy talk to the bird when I got scared."
Malcolm crouched. "How?"
"I held the red button. Grandpa showed me. You can keep a new sound if you hold it a long time."
May you like
He pressed the small red button beneath the wing. The bird made a warning beep, then spoke in Sloane's voice.
"If you tell your daddy, I'll make sure he doesn't come back."
