Chapter 14 - The Girl Who Watched
The recordings changed everything.
There were twelve audio files.
Most were short.
Arguments.
Planning.
Numbers.
Account passwords spoken out loud.
Darius pressuring Simone.
Simone pushing back.
But one recording was clear.
Darius: “You need him tired, not dead.”
Simone: “I never said dead.”
Darius: “Then stop acting scared.”
Simone: “I said I can handle Andre. Maya is the problem.”
Darius: “She’s twelve.”
Simone: “She notices everything.”
My daughter had been punished for being observant.
Returned purchases.
Locked belongings.
Cruel comments.
Isolation.
It was control.
If Maya believed she was unwanted, maybe she would stop watching.
Instead, she watched more.
Rollins listened without expression.
Then he removed the memory card and sealed it.
“I’m applying for a warrant.”
I looked at him.
“For Simone?”
“For devices, accounts, and possibly her arrest depending on what the prosecutor approves.”
Maya was in the next room with my sister.
I was grateful she hadn’t heard the recording.
Then Rollins asked a question I hadn’t considered.
“Did your wife know Caleb had that old phone?”
“No.”
“Keep it that way.”
Too late.
My phone rang.
Simone.
The protective order barred contact with Maya, not me.
I answered.
“You took my children.”
“They’re with their father.”
“You handed them over like they were packages.”
“You’re the one who packed them.”
Silence.
Then, “What did Caleb give you?”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do.”
Rollins signaled for me to keep her talking.
Simone’s breathing changed.
“He stole from me.”
“He’s ten.”
“He took something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
She didn’t answer.
I said, “A phone?”
Silence.
Then she whispered, “Andre, listen to me. Darius is dangerous.”
“Now he’s dangerous?”
“He always was.”
“And you brought him into our finances.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You used Maya’s identity.”
“He did that.”
“You gave him the documents.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You pawned Renee’s necklace.”
“I needed cash.”
“You forged my signature.”
“Darius prepared those forms.”
“You put something in my coffee.”
Her silence lasted too long.
I closed my eyes.
Rollins watched me.
“Simone?”
She began crying.
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Losing everything.”
“So you drugged me?”
“It wasn’t poison.”
The room went still.
I looked at Rollins.
He wrote something down.
“What was it?”
“A sleep aid. Herbal stuff.”
“Why?”
“So you would stop fighting me about paperwork.”
I felt physically sick.
“You drugged me to get signatures.”
“I didn’t think of it like that.”
“How did you think of it?”
She sobbed.
“I thought I was saving us.”
Then a loud bang sounded on her end.
Simone screamed.
The line went dead.
I stood.
Rollins was already calling dispatch.
Her house alarm triggered thirty seconds later.
May you like
Then my phone received one final text from Simone.
HE’S HERE.
