Chapter 5 - PAIGE HAD TRIED TO RUN ONCE
Three months into treatment, Paige tried leaving.
I never knew.
She packed one suitcase.
Called an old coworker named Melanie.
Planned to stay in Toledo for several weeks.
Susan found out.
How?
The old replacement phone Greg gave Paige shared location through his family account.
He saw the drive request Paige searched.
Then called Susan.
They took the suitcase.
Susan told Paige:
“If you disappear while sick, Damian will think you abandoned him.”
Greg added:
“He already thinks you’re using him.”
None of that came from me.
Paige believed enough of it to stay.
Her isolation had not begun with the shed.
It began with interpretation.
Susan became my voice.
Whenever Paige asked what I thought:
Susan answered.
Whenever I asked how Paige felt:
Susan answered.
I had allowed that because long-distance life rewarded convenience.
Then Melanie gave Nathan screenshots.
Paige:
I THINK I HAVE TO LEAVE.
Melanie:
Come here.
Paige:
Susan says Damian wants me to stay there.
Melanie:
Did Damian tell you that?
Paige:
No.
Melanie:
Call him.
Paige:
Greg says he’s working nights and can’t deal with this.
I was not working nights that week.
I was home with the flu.
My phone records showed no calls from Paige.
Hers showed two attempts.
Both lasted less than three seconds.
Then her phone connected to Greg’s Wi-Fi calling profile.
Technical review suggested call forwarding settings had been changed.
Not proof Greg personally did it.
Enough to investigate.
Then Nathan found something else.
Greg had access to my Canadian emergency-contact portal because I named him backup contact years earlier.
He could see some shift schedules.
Incident dates.
Worker-status updates.
He knew when I was unavailable.
That made his timing less mysterious.
May you like
My family had not needed sophisticated surveillance.
I gave them half the infrastructure myself.
