Chapter 9 - THE ADDRESS LIST
Trent’s employer completed its internal review.
The results went to investigators and attorneys through proper channels.
He had searched customer records unrelated to assigned jobs.
Several matched my old contacts.
One matched Gary.
One matched Erica.
One matched the domestic-violence resource center.
Then there was an address I didn’t recognize.
A small house in Miamisburg.
Gary’s name appeared next to it in Trent’s personal notes.
SAFE FALLBACK?
Alicia called him.
Gary explained.
The house belonged to his sister, my Aunt Beth.
When I was a child, my mother once told me:
“If you ever need somewhere quiet, Aunt Beth has a key under the ceramic frog.”
I had forgotten.
Gary had not.
Years earlier, when Trent first started telling him I was unstable, Trent asked:
“If Shelby ever ran somewhere with the girls, where would she go?”
Gary gave him three possibilities.
Erica.
Aunt Beth.
And one park.
Riverside Park.
The park where my mother used to take me after Gary’s worst drinking nights.
The same park where Ruthie found the light in Bunny.
My skin prickled.
“But he had the tracker.”
“Yes,” Alicia said.
“So why would he need Dad’s list?”
She looked at me.
“Maybe he didn't at first.”
The device told Trent where I was.
Gary’s information told him what the location meant.
Where cameras might be.
Whether I might stay.
Who might help.
Then Alicia found a message sent nine days before I left.
TRENT:
If Shelby reaches out, I need to know immediately. Her anxiety is getting worse.
GARY:
I will tell you.
TRENT:
Do not confront her.
GARY:
I understand.
The next day:
TRENT:
She mentioned Riverside again.
GARY:
Her mother used to take her there.
TRENT:
Good to know.
That exchange happened before the pantry assault.
Before my emergency bag came out.
Before I walked away barefoot.
Trent already believed I might run.
And my father had unknowingly helped him map the places where I might feel safest.
The tracker inside Bunny was technology.
May you like
The deeper surveillance system was family memory.
That set up the truth Part 10 finally made impossible to ignore.
