Chapter 3 - THE DEVICE BENEATH HER CAR
David denied knowing Richard Kelley.
He did it over the phone with such offended certainty that I almost apologized.
“You’re accusing me because some stranger used a childhood nickname?”
“I’m asking whether you mentioned Emma to anyone.”
“I mention my daughter to people. That is not a crime.”
“Did you tell anyone where she works?”
“Her job is not classified information.”
“Did you give anyone her schedule?”
“No.”
Behind him, I heard dishes and a television.
He sounded comfortable.
We were not.
Two days later, Tasha found a tracking device beneath Emma’s car.
She discovered it because Emma’s phone displayed a warning that an unfamiliar Bluetooth tracker had been moving with her.
The device had been secured inside the rear bumper with black adhesive tape.
I wanted to rip it off.
Tasha stopped me.
“Photograph it first. Don’t handle it more than necessary.”
Officer Nguyen arrived with another officer and an evidence bag.
This was different from a man standing on a sidewalk.
Someone had placed an electronic device on Emma’s private vehicle.
The tracker’s owner information had been disabled, but investigators could request registration data from the manufacturer.
For the first time, Officer Nguyen used the word warrant.
Emma sat on our front steps while the officers examined her car.
Her hands remained folded tightly between her knees.
“I’m going to lose my job,” she said.
“You haven’t missed a shift.”
“My manager asked whether police will keep coming.”
“They’re trying to protect you.”
“She said customers are uncomfortable.”
Richard had not needed to touch Emma to shrink her life.
He had already taken one job from her.
Now the fear surrounding him threatened another.
A dark SUV pulled into the driveway.
David climbed out before I could call him.
“What are police doing here?”
Emma looked up.
“I didn’t call you.”
“I heard about the tracker.”
The officers were ten feet away.
The words seemed to remain suspended between us.
I had not told David.
Emma had not told David.
No one in our family knew except the people standing on the property.
“How did you hear?” I asked.
His expression changed almost imperceptibly.
“Your mother called.”
“My mother is in Arizona.”
“I meant Renee.”
“There is no Renee.”
The lie had come from panic, not preparation.
David looked toward the officers.
“I’m upset. I misspoke.”
Emma stood.
“Who told you?”
He rubbed one hand over his mouth.
“I received a message from someone at the college.”
“The tracker was found here.”
“Then maybe I misunderstood.”
Thomas and Amos had arrived separately and remained near the sidewalk.
David noticed their vests.
“This is what you’ve brought around our daughter?”
“I didn’t bring the tracking device.”
“You’re turning her into a spectacle.”
Emma stepped between us.
“Stop talking like I’m not here.”
David’s face softened.
“Em-Bug, I’m trying to help.”
She recoiled from the nickname.
Officer Nguyen approached him.
“Mr. Hart, do you know Richard Kelley?”
“No.”
“Have you communicated with anyone about monitoring your daughter?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then how did you learn about the tracker?”
“I told you. Someone contacted me.”
“Who?”
“I need to check my phone.”
He reached into his pocket, looked at the screen for less than a second, and shook his head.
“The message must have been deleted.”
Officer Nguyen asked whether he would voluntarily allow her to view recent calls.
David locked the screen.
“No. I don’t consent to a search of my phone.”
He had the legal right to refuse.
The speed of the refusal made Emma go quiet.
After he left, Thomas walked around Emma’s car without touching it.
He looked beneath the rear window, then toward the upstairs hallway window of our house.
“What home-security system do you use?” he asked.
I told him.
“Who set it up?”
“David. Before the divorce.”
“Did you remove his administrator access?”
“I changed the password.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Tasha opened the security application on my phone.
The account listed me as the primary user.
Beneath my name were two authorized administrators.
One was an email address I had not used in years.
It belonged to David.
The other had been added four months earlier.
May you like
The account showed only initials.
R.K.
