Page 48 of Whispers of Deception

“I was helping her,” McCall said, his voice steady.

“You’re a liar. Why was she with you?”

“She had gotten another letter. She was trying to leave town,” McCall explained. “She had been receiving letters for months, and they had started up again. She was distraught, so she sought out the police for help. But we couldn’t trace the prints back to anyone.”

Lilia’s phone lowered slightly as she processed his words. “You were trying to help her run away?”

“She needed cash.”

Realization dawned on her, “The backpack that they found in the dumpster.”

“She said that she was going to fill up her tank, and that she was going to go home after that—to get some more clothes, to say her goodbyes, maybe. But she was so shaken, I followed behind her. She said that she would meet me at the hotel after.”

“You were the man that the gas station clerk saw with her.” She ran her fingers through her hair.

“I went with her to the hotel. I made sure she was settled in, and then I left. I don’t know where she went after that. I thought that she had done it and run away. When her father reported her missing, I assumed she had. But when we found her body a few months later, I realized she had never made it out of town.” McCall’s voice was heavy with regret. “Every day since, I’ve kicked myself for leaving her at that hotel.”

“You didn’t kill her,” she whispered.

“I didn’t. She was alive when I left, I swear.”

A thick silence filled the air and her mind raced as she attempted to digest what she had learned. McCall wasn’t the mystery guy, and he hadn’t killed Willow.

Her phone buzzed in her hand, severing the silence. Lilia clenched her eyes shut for a moment, steeling herself before looking down at the screen.

Unknown

Audio file attachment.

Her heart pounded as she frowned, pushing play, and holding the phone up to her ear to hear amid the festival’s noise.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Gus.” Her own voice filled her ears followed by the unmistakable sound of moans.

Her heart plummeted, and she ripped her phone from her ear, staring at the screen in disbelief.

She looked up to see McCall watching her, his expression unreadable. But before he could even say anything, she turned and fled, ignoring his calls and the confused looks of onlookers. She ran, and she ran, the trees blurring into blobs. She couldn’t breathe.

Unknown

Two down, three to go. Stop while you’re ahead, Lilia. Sometimes the truth hurts.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:Whispers of Deception—Episode 5: “The Audio That Changes Everything”

[INTRO MUSIC: Haunting Piano melody fades into soft, tense beats]

HOST 1 (Maggie):Welcome back toWhispers of Deception, where we dive deep into the strange and often disturbing events surrounding the death of Willow Montgomery. Today’s episode is going to be different, more intense one might say. If you’ve been following the case, you know that there’s been speculation, theories, and a lot of questions. But this latest development . . . well, it’s really shaken everything up.

HOST 2 (Noah):You’re not exaggerating, Mags. The audio that surfaced last night has sent shockwaves through Mills Creek—and beyond. We’re talking about something that could potentially redefine everything we thought we knew about this case.

Maggie:For those of you who haven’t heard it yet—though it seems like the entire internet has at this point—it’s a recording that allegedly captures a private moment between Augustus and Lilia. A moment that has everyone questioning their relationship with Willow, and more disturbingly, their potential involvement in her death.

[Audio Clip: Faint sound of door closing, muffled voices, followed by a distinct voice believed to be Lilia’s. ‘We shouldn’t be doing this, Gus.’ Then a male voice’s, possiblyAugustus’, muffled moans, and the sound of movement.]

Noah:There it is. It’s hard to listen to, knowing the context of everything we’ve been piecing together.

Maggie:Absolutely. And the timing of this audio being leaked . . . is curious, to say the least. But let’s break it down for our listeners, shall we?

Noah:First off, the obvious question—what does this mean? For months, there has been speculation about Lilia and Augustus’ relationship with Willow. But this audio is leading many to think they may have more than just a friendly bond. If anything was going on with Lilia and Augustus, and Willow found out . . .

---