Page 63 of Guess Again
“No problem.”
She smiled and twisted her head a bit. “You’re sure it will go out Thursday?”
“I’ll mail it myself. It’s in good hands.”
Another smile. “Thank you,” she said before leaving the post office and climbing back into her car.
The package would start its voyage north on Thursday and would not arrive at Ethan Hall’s home until next weekend. By then, she and Francis would have already started their new life together. Just a few more days, but so much to do.
Another few minutes passed until she saw the postal worker leave for the day. He locked the front door to the post office before climbing into the only other car in the parking lot and driving off down the dusty road to nowhere.
With the post office parking lot abandoned, she reached into the backseat and grabbed a new adult diaper. Stepping out of the car, she quickly lifted her skirt and pulled the wet, sagging diaper she was wearing down her legs and stepped out of it. She yanked the new one into place and felt immediate relief. Inside the car, she found her Adderall in the glove box and swallowed two tablets. She would not have the luxury of a hotel stay on the way back to Nekoosa. She had too much to do before Monday morning.
She pulled out of the parking lot, leaving a trail of dust in her wake and the wet diaper on the pavement.
CHAPTER 61
Cherryview, Wisconsin Sunday, August 3, 2025
IT WASSUNDAY EVENING WHENETHAN FINALLY GOT THE CALL FROMChristian.
“Got it?” Ethan said when he answered.
“Unfortunately, no. Dr. Larkin wasn’t kidding when she said she had top-notch encryption in place. It’s taking me longer than I had anticipated to crack. I’ll get through it, but not before Monday, Doc. Sorry, pal.”
Ethan took a deep breath. “No worries. I know you’re doing everything you can. Keep at it. Even if it comes after tomorrow, I need to know what you find.”
“Will do. But on a side note,” Christian said. “I was finally able to recover Callie Jones’s text messages from her SIM card. And I think you’re going to want to see them.”
“I’ll be over in a few.”
Christian handed Ethan a Spotted Cow when he answered the door.
“Come on in. The text threads are pretty garbled up, but I think I got most of what’s left of them.”
Ethan took a sip of beer as he followed Christian through the palatial home and into the man’s tech lair, where the air was considerably cooler than the rest of the house to keep the bank of computers and processors working efficiently. Screens glowed and blinked from every corner. Christian sat in front of one of the monitors and attacked the keyboard in impossibly quick strokes.
“I told you that the girl used an app to encrypt her texts, and then delete them after they were sent. The application she used no longer exists, which is why it took me so long to recover the texts. I had to reverse engineer the old technology in order to gain access. And even now, I don’t have everything. But I found the thread from Saturday, July 18, 2015. That’s the night she disappeared, right?”
Ethan remembered touring The Crest with Lindsay Larkin and hearing that Callie had left abruptly after receiving a text. No one had seen her since, other than Jaycee Jones, Callie’s younger sister, when Callie stopped home briefly for a sweatshirt.
“Yeah, that’s the night.”
“I figured,” Christian said. “Because it’s the last text thread that showed up on her phone. Came in at 9:02 p.m.”
Christian pecked at the keyboard for another second until the text thread appeared. He pushed against the desk and sent his wheeled chair sliding to the side to give Ethan access. Ethan moved closer and read the thread.
What’s wrong?
I need to see you.
Where are you?
The Crest.
You okay?
I need to talk to you about the baby. I’m keeping it.
