Page 29 of Ashes of Us
“How do you “kinda low-key stalk” someone?” Danica made a face, suddenly feeling itchy, like she needed a shower.
“Checking out his and your social media semi-obsessively, bringing her car back to your father-in-law's garage for every little noise or issue, showing up at places she thought he might be, that sort of thing.” Maverick glanced up from his phone. “Look, like 75% of my job is just searching people on social media and googling their names. I cannot stress enough to lock down your social media or get rid of it altogether.”
“Good to know.” Danica pulled out her phone and began checking her privacy settings on everything. “What else did you find out from Elena?”
“According to Lucy, when Elena and Jimmy went to his room, they kept playing the game, and when Jasper won, he celebrated by hugging her; she kissed him, and it progressed from there. She was definitely pregnant. Lucy went to the doctor with her and had it confirmed. Lucy swears up and down it was Jasper's, but Elena agrees with Jimmy. She says Jasper was still in his pants when he left, and he was furious when he woke up and found Lucy lying on him. She said, despite being so high he could barely stand up, he refused to interact with her, and if she said anything to him directly, he would either grunt or give one-word answers.” Maverick closed his phone and looked up at her.“She said he was friendly and touchy with her and Jimmy but avoided Lucy like the plague.”
Danica put down her phone and looked out the window as she mulled all that over. “Alex was saying she might have waited for him to go to sleep and then gave him a hand job.”
Maverick's eyes widened in surprise. “That would be sexual assault. We need irrefutable proof before we can accuse her of that.”
“Did you get anything off his phone?” Danica asked, fidgeting with her pen nervously. “In the texts they showed as proof in court, he admitted to sleeping with her.”
“Mmm.” Maverick pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, there was nothing on his phone.”
“What do you mean nothing?” Danica felt like her stomach had been forced into a blender turned on high. How could there be nothing?
“He didn't have Lucy saved as a contact, and there were no texts between him and her or between him and his mother.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out Jasper's phone, handing it to her. “Nothing in the deleted folder either. I think he was talking to Lucy on Instagram, it was the only place she wasn't blocked, and he had his DM's in vanish mode, so anything she sent to him vanished when he closed the chat.”
Danica swallowed hard, trying to comprehend what Maverick was telling her. “That doesn't make any sense. Why would he do that?”
“Going on past experience, it seems like there was something he didn't want you to come across.” Maverick was watching her closely, looking concerned. “I'm sorry, Danica.”
“No.” Danica shook her head. “You don't understand, I've never, in seven years, ever looked at his phone. Even witheverything going on, it never occurred to me until all this came out. We had access to each other's accounts, pins, logins and passwords; none of them were changed.”
“He wouldn't have to change anything. He just had to remember to delete his conversation with his mother and turn off Instagram notifications.” Maverick sounded very apologetic, and he reached out and took her hand in his. “Danica, all it means is he was potentially having a conversation he didn't want you to see, we don't know what was said. You said the texts seemed off, as if there was context missing. It's really easy to fake conversations and manipulate pictures. David can subpoena their conversations to be taken directly from their phone, not just screenshots.”
After Maverick seemed sure she was okay, he told her he was going to look into a few other ideas he had and left. Danica took a few minutes to collect herself, then went to let Alex know she had court in the morning. He didn't even look up from his computer, just told her he would meet her at the courthouse.
“Oh,” Danica felt a flash of warmth and calm. “You don't have to do that.”
“I know,” he said simply.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Composed Under Fire
Danica arrived at the courthouse early the next morning, meeting Alex in the parking lot. While she had felt good about having him attend court with her the previous day, at some point during the night, she began to regret that choice. Jasper's words during their argument about how he'd had to defend her character when it came to other people's thoughts on her relationship with Alexander made her think it might be a bad idea to have Alex there as support while trying to get permission to take her husband off life support. She almost asked him to go home, worried about how it would look to Jasper's parents, but as they walked in and found David, who took them off to the side to go over everything with Danica and advise her on what to say if the judge had questions for her, she saw Amy and Cecil walk in with Lucy in tow. Livid, she didn't realize she had started walking after them until Alex caught her arm and pulled her back firmly.
“Don't do anything stupid.” He murmured in her ear as he and David ushered her into an empty room and shut the door behind them. “You need to be the calm and composed one here.”
Focusing on her breathing, she nodded once and straightened her shoulders. Alex introduced himself to David, and they chatted quietly while Danica calmed herself down using meditation and yoga techniques. When she announced she was ready, they filed into the courtroom, Alex sitting behind her in the gallery as she and David took their seats at the defendant's table. Glancing over, she saw that Amy was staring straight ahead, a hard, almost angry look on her face. Cecil was looking at the table, as if he'd rather be anywhere else, and Lucy was sitting behind them, scrolling on her phone and looking bored. Danica leaned over and asked David if it was possible to obtain a subpoena for their text messages, explaining that the ones Amy and Cecil's lawyer had presented as evidence appeared to have been doctored.
“I can subpoena records from the phone company, but not them, not unless it's a civil litigation case,” he explained, shaking his head. “There was nothing on Jasper's phone?”
“No.” Danica groaned, rubbing her eyes. “He deleted the conversation with his mom, and Maverick said it looked like he was using vanishing DMs on Instagram to talk to Little Miss Homewrecker over there.”
“Shh.” David hushed her gently, looking amused. “You can't come across as hostile.” He paused and appeared to think about what she told him. “Would you like me to request a forensic examination of his phone to see if the texts can be recovered?”
“Can they do that?” Danica looked over at the Prestons again. Amy was now talking quietly to her lawyer, their eyes meeting over his shoulder. For a fraction of a second, she looked sad, then it was gone. Danica had to suppress her snort of derision. Amy's resting bitch face could rival Alex's.
“Maybe. Depends on whether they've been overwritten or not.” David said, forcing her attention back to him. “But since the phone hasn't been used since the night of the accident, I think we have a pretty good chance. Besides, seeing their reaction to the request will tell us if it's worth it to push or not.”
“Yeah, let's do it then.” Danica felt a rush of adrenaline go through her. If Lucy or Amy reacted badly to the request, that would be enough for her to know they doctored them. David turned around and told Alex what he was going to do.
“Watch and see what their reactions are.” David instructed quietly, “Danica and I can't give away our suspicions, so we aren't going to watch.” Alex nodded, reaching up and briefly squeezing Danica's shoulder.
“No problem.” He murmured. Danica almost reached for his hand, wanting the physical support, but stopped herself at the last second. Instead, she flashed him a quick, grateful smile over her shoulder and then turned to face the front when the clerk asked for everyone to stand and announced the honourable Judge Perella was presiding.
When everyone was seated again, the judge looked at David. “Mr. Niehaus, I understand you are seeking emergency authorization for a medical procedure.”
