Page 25 of Witness To Murder
Now, seated on a stool at the kitchen island, Leah watched as Owen plugged up the phone he had found in her underwear drawer. Heat climbed up her throat and rested on her cheeks each time she thought of him touching her underthings. Thankfully, she had packed most of her favorites when preparing to come here, leaving the less-worn pairs in the drawer. Who wanted such a handsome guy—any guy, really—discovering she preferred comfortable panties?
She shook herself mentally. What was she thinking? Someone had, in some way, disappeared at least two people she knew, and that same person seemed to want to pin the blame on her. This was not the time to be wondering what this man thought of her underwear.
“Here we go.”
The screen of the phone lit up.
Leah held her breath. Maybe now they would find some answers or at least a clue of some sort as to what the heck was going on. Her pulse gained an extra beat every second or so as she watched him scroll, pausing now and then perhaps to read.The furrowing of his brow and the stony set of his jaw made her stomach sink.
Finally, he stopped and looked up at her. “I need you to scan the call list and see if you recognize any of the numbers. Then go to the text messages and read those to see if any of it is familiar to you or if you recognize the way the messages are worded. We all have our favorite buzzwords and sentence structures.”
Cold leeched from her limbs. “Okay.” She held out her hand, and he placed the seemingly harmless device on her palm.
Leah swallowed around the lump swelling in her throat and concentrated on the small screen. The one currently displayed was the log of recent calls. There were no names, just phone numbers and the wordHim. The call log ended on Saturday night and only went back five days. From late on Monday of last week until this past Saturday—the night Raymond disappeared. Isla, too, apparently.
There were nine calls, one each day until Saturday, and then there were four. All to or from the same number.
Raymond’s.
Fear trickled through her chest. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have remembered a phone number so easily, except his last four digits were 1001. It had to be his. But just in case she was wrong, she reached for her cell phone and checked the call log for the one time she had spoken to him. There it was: 312-555-1001.
“The person using this phone was talking to Raymond.” She looked up at Owen. “It wasn’t me. I swear.”
He nodded once. “Read the text messages.”
The urge to throw the phone across the room and run was nearly overwhelming. She did not want to read those messages. It didn’t matter that they had absolutely not come from her or been sent to her. This was not right.
Deep breath.She forced her fingers to work, tapping and swiping as needed until the Messages app opened. There wasonly one listing. She tapped onHim. The next screen opened to a long thread of message exchanges.
Are you ready for our big night???
That one was from whoeverHimwas.
Can’t wait. Are you sure you’re ready?
This message was sent via the phone found in her underwear drawer…the one she held in her hand at this very moment.
Leah forced herself to keep reading, though the rock in her gut seemed to be trying to push upward into her throat.
Him: Oh yeah. We have everything we need.
Underwear-Drawer Phone User: How can I wait as long as this might take?
Him: Patience. The five mil will be ours.
The ability to breathe grew harder and harder.
Underwear-Drawer Phone User: Sand, sun and water…forever.
Him: Just the two of us…
There were several more but nothing relevant, just the mushy back-and-forth of two lovers planning some sort of getaway.
She stared up at the man standing on the other side of the island. His blue eyes watched her intently. He would be analyzing her reaction…her every word. Deciding if he should continue trusting her.
Leah swallowed. “I didn’t send these messages. I have never seen this phone before. This is not me.” She shook her head, the movement stilted. “Someone else did this.”
Owen took the phone from her and set it aside. “Is there anyone else who might have a key to your apartment? Besides you and Isla?”
