Chapter 2 - Samuel Had Photographed The Car
Richard Carter stopped beside the elevator.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Ethan Walker stepped toward him.
“Why did you tell me Sophia was attacked in an alley?”
Richard looked at Samuel.
Not Ethan.
That was the first thing Ethan noticed.
The second was fear.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“Who is this man?”
“You know exactly who I am,” Samuel said.
Richard’s jaw tightened.
Ethan moved between them.
“Answer me.”
Richard lowered his voice.
“This is a hospital.”
“My wife is unconscious because somebody nearly killed her. I don’t care
where we are.”
A nurse looked toward them.
Ethan forced himself to step back.
Samuel touched his backpack.
“I have a picture.”
They went outside.
Under the parking-garage lights, Samuel removed an old phone.
The photograph was grainy.
A dark SUV sat behind Ethan’s house.
Time stamp: 11:48 p.m., three nights earlier.
Another image showed two figures near the rear passenger door.
One was Richard.
The other wore a dark hooded jacket.
Ethan zoomed in.
The face was impossible to identify.
“What happened?”
Samuel swallowed.
He had been sleeping in the abandoned garage when shouting woke him.
A woman screamed inside Ethan’s house.
Then something crashed.
Samuel crossed the alley behind the properties.
Through the kitchen window, he saw movement but not enough to identify
anyone.
Minutes later, the back door opened.
Richard emerged.
The hooded person helped him carry Sophia.
She was unconscious.
Samuel thought they were taking her to a hospital.
He photographed the SUV because something felt wrong.
“Why didn’t you call police?”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“I did.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
“I called from a prepaid phone. Told them a woman was hurt at your
address.”
Richard suddenly spoke.
“No.”
Samuel turned.
“Yes.”
Richard’s face changed.
Ethan felt cold.
“If Samuel called police to my house, why did everyone get told Sophia
was found in an alley?”
Richard looked toward the hospital.
Then he said:
“Because if the police knew what really happened in that house, Sophia
would have been in even more danger.”
Ethan grabbed his arm.
“From who?”
May you like
Richard looked directly at him.
“From the person she was investigating while you were deployed.”
