Chapter 3: The Secret Behind the Screen
Marcus stared at Vanessa.
“What does that mean?””
She rubbed her palms against each other, her cream blouse immaculate despite the trembling in her hands.
“It means other people have been around your phone. At the office. During meetings. When you leave it on your desk.””
“Who?”” Officer Brooks asked.
Vanessa swallowed.
“I don't know who had it on Wednesday night.””
“That's not what I asked,” Brooks replied.
“Who else could access it?””
Vanessa looked toward the doorway, then back at Marcus.
“Your office assistant sometimes moves things off your desk. The conference room staff clear tables after meetings. And people borrow chargers all the time.””
Marcus shook his head.
“My phone was locked.””
“Then someone would need whatever access your device allows,” Brooks said.
“We don't know whether anyone accessed it. We need to establish the possibilities without assuming what happened.””
Danielle sat motionless on the sofa.
The anger had drained from her face, leaving something raw and distant behind. She stared at the floorboards, her hands clasped so tightly that her knuckles had turned pale.
“Can any of those people bring my daughter back?”” she asked.
Nobody answered.
She laughed once, a small, broken sound.
“Of course not.””
Marcus turned toward her.
“I'm sorry.””
Danielle lifted her head.
“Stop saying that as if the words are going to change something.””
He closed his mouth.
“I don't know what else to say,” he admitted.
“Then listen.””
He nodded.
Danielle drew a shaky breath.
“Lily loved your voice. Do you remember that? When she was little, you'd call from work, and she'd carry the phone around the house like she was showing everyone her favorite toy.””
Marcus's face crumpled.
“She used to ask me to put you on speaker,” Danielle continued.
“She wanted to tell you about her drawings. She wanted to tell you what she'd eaten at lunch. Sometimes she had nothing to say, and she'd just listen to you breathe.””
Marcus covered his mouth with his hand.
“I remember.””
“Do you remember the last thing she asked you before you left?””
He tried to answer, but his throat tightened.
Danielle watched him struggle.
“She asked whether you'd be home before the weekend. You told her you'd try.””
“I thought I would.””
“You promised her a little yellow backpack.””
Marcus looked toward the photograph.
He remembered the backpack now. Lily had seen one in a store window and insisted it was perfect for kindergarten. He had taken a picture of it, promised to buy it when he returned, and then buried himself in meetings.
“I was going to get it,” he whispered.
“I know.””
Danielle's voice softened for half a second.
That softness hurt more than the shouting.
“I know you meant to,” she said.
“But she didn't get to keep waiting until you had time.””
Marcus bent forward, pressing both hands against his knees.
Officer Brooks allowed the silence to settle before she spoke.
“Mr. Reed, do you use a passcode, facial recognition, or another method to unlock your phone?””
“A passcode and facial recognition.””
“Does Vanessa know the passcode?””
“No.””
Vanessa shook her head quickly.
“I don't know it.””
“Have you ever seen him enter it?”” Brooks asked.
“Probably. I'm not staring at his hands every time he checks his phone.””
“Could you have learned it accidentally?””
“I suppose anyone standing nearby could have seen it. But I never tried to memorize it.””
Marcus looked at her.
“You've handled my phone before.””
“To put meetings on the calendar. To check flight details. You gave it to me.””
“Did you ever send messages from it?””
“Work messages, yes, when you asked me to.””
“Personal messages?””
“No.””
“Messages to Lily's teacher?””
“No.””
Her answers came more slowly now.
Brooks kept her expression neutral.
“Do you know the teacher's name?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“Not off the top of my head.””
Danielle turned sharply.
“Her name was Mrs. Ellis. Lily talked about her every day.””
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“I'm sorry.””
“You've said that already,” Danielle replied.
Brooks looked at Danielle.
“Do you have Mrs. Ellis's number?””
“Yes. It's in my contacts.””
“Please don't make any changes to your phone or delete any messages related to this. We'll arrange to obtain the relevant records appropriately.””
Danielle nodded.
Marcus's gaze drifted back to his jacket pocket.
He wanted to take out his phone, scroll through his calls, and find the proof that would make everything make sense. He wanted to see missed calls from the teacher, a notification he had somehow overlooked, anything that would show he had not simply failed to answer his daughter's final request.
But he knew what he would find if his own memory was accurate.
Nothing.
“I checked my phone constantly that day,” he said.
“Flights, emails, meetings. If someone had called me, I would have seen it.””
“Maybe the calls didn't reach your device,” Vanessa offered.
Brooks looked at her.
“That's possible. So is another explanation. We shouldn't decide which one is correct without records.””
Vanessa nodded, but she looked increasingly uncomfortable.
Marcus studied her face.
“Did you know I was expecting a call from home on Wednesday?””
“No.””
“I told you Danielle might call if Lily needed anything.””
“You tell me that whenever you travel.””
“And you know how important Lily was to me.””
Vanessa's expression tightened.
“Of course I do.””
“Then why didn't you tell me something was wrong?””
“I didn't know something was wrong!””
The force of her response startled everyone.
Vanessa pressed a hand to her chest.
“Marcus, I didn't know your daughter was in the hospital. I didn't know her teacher was calling. I didn't know there was a message. You keep asking me as if I was standing there watching her suffer.””
“I am asking because you were with me,” he replied.
“You were the person handling my schedule.””
“And I was handling your business, not secretly monitoring your family!””
Her voice broke on the last word.
For a moment, she looked genuinely wounded.
Then she reached into her handbag with her left hand and pulled out a tissue. She dabbed her eyes carefully, avoiding the mascara beneath them.
Brooks watched her without comment.
Danielle looked away.
Marcus wanted the questions to stop. He wanted someone to tell him the truth, even if the truth was that he had missed every call because he had been careless. He wanted to carry the blame himself rather than watch suspicion spread across a room that already contained too much grief.
But the message remained.
A text had come from his number while Lily's teacher was trying to reach him.
A text Danielle had been told arrived too late.
And no one in the living room could explain who had sent it.
“Officer,” Marcus said, “can we find out exactly when the message was sent?””
“We can request the available records and speak with the teacher,” Brooks replied.
“We also need to establish what happened to your phone during that period. I can't promise that every question will have an immediate answer.””
“Then start with the phone.””
“I intend to.””
Brooks turned to Vanessa.
“Did you take Mr. Reed's phone home, to your hotel, or anywhere else while you were traveling?””
“No.””
“Did you ever keep it overnight?””
“No.””
“Did you use it after he went to sleep?””
Vanessa stared at her.
“Absolutely not.””
“I'm documenting your answers. That's all.””
Vanessa looked at Marcus as though expecting him to defend her again.
He couldn't.
His daughter was gone, and every ordinary detail of his life had suddenly become something he had to question.
Brooks closed her notebook.
“I'll need to speak with Mrs. Ellis and establish the timeline. Until then, please preserve any relevant messages, call records, and travel information. Don't attempt to access or alter anything that could affect the inquiry.””
Marcus nodded.
Danielle rose slowly from the sofa.
She walked toward Lily's photograph and straightened a white flower that had slipped against the edge of the vase. Her fingers lingered on the glass frame.
“She picked that dress herself,” she whispered.
“She said yellow made people happy.””
Marcus stood behind her, unable to move closer.
“I should have been there,” he said.
Danielle kept her eyes on the photograph.
“Yes,” she replied.
“You should have.””
Vanessa stood near the doorway, her handbag pressed against her side. She looked at Lily's smiling face, then at Marcus, then at the floor.
Brooks noticed the sequence.
“Ms. Cole,” she said, “one more question.””
Vanessa stiffened.
“What?””
“On Wednesday, when you were arranging Mr. Reed's schedule, did you have any reason to believe he would be unavailable to answer a personal call?””
Vanessa opened her mouth.
This time, no answer came.
Marcus slowly turned toward her.
“Vanessa?””
She gripped the handbag strap with her left hand.
“I don't know what you want me to say.””
“The truth,” Brooks replied.
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
Then she looked directly at Marcus.
“Before you left for that meeting on Wednesday,” she whispered, “you told me something about your phone.””
Marcus frowned.
“What did I tell you?””
Vanessa drew a trembling breath.
“You said that if anyone from home called, I should—”
She stopped.
Brooks's pen hovered above her notebook.
Marcus took one step toward her.
“You should what?””
Vanessa's lips parted, but the words seemed to catch in her throat.
May you like
And as Danielle turned away from Lily's photograph, the woman standing in the doorway finally said the one thing that made Marcus question whether his memory of Wednesday was complete.
“I need to tell you what happened before those calls came in.””
