Calling Tessa

I used the payphone at the truck stop. It was a relic, covered in graffiti and smelling of rust, but it worked. I dialed Tessa's number, the one I had found in the payroll archives before Arthur locked me out.

It rang four times.

"Hello?" Her voice was tight, guarded.

"Tessa," I said. "It's Elena."

Silence. Then, a sharp intake of breath. "Mrs. Hawthorne. I told you, I can't—"

"You already helped me," I said. "You gave me the keycard. Now I need something else."

"I don't have anything else."

"You have a memory," I said. "Ten years ago. The week of the funeral. You were the only one in the house besides the family."

"I was cleaning," she said quickly. "I didn't see anything."

"You saw her leave," I said. "You told me in the parking lot. You saw them take her out the back door."

"I saw a gurney," she whispered. "She was asleep."

"She wasn't asleep, Tessa. She was drugged. And she wasn't dying. She was being erased."

I gripped the phone cord, the metal coils digging into my palm.

"I need to know what happened before that," I said. "The night of the 13th. The night she 'died.' Were you there?"

A long pause. The sound of a television in the background. A child's voice asking for juice.

"I was off," she said. "It was my night off. But Mr. Arthur called me. He said there had been an accident. He needed me to come in early the next morning to clean the library."

"The library?"

"Yes. He said Mrs. Margaret had... fallen. That she had hit her head."

"Did you clean it?"

"Yes."

"Was there blood?"

"Yes," she whispered. "On the rug. And on the desk."

"The desk?"

"The corner of the desk. It was... sharp. Brass."

I closed my eyes. *Blunt force trauma to the temple.*

"Did you see her?" I asked.

"No. The door to the bedroom was closed. Dr. Thorne was in there with Mr. Arthur. They wouldn't let me in."

"But you heard them?"

"I heard arguing," she said. "Before the doctor got there. When I first arrived. Mr. Arthur was shouting."

"What was he saying?"

"He said... he said she was ungrateful. That he built this empire for her, and she was trying to take it away."

"Take it away how?"

"I don't know. But he kept saying, 'You signed it. It's done.'"

"The prenup," I said.

"Maybe. But then... then I heard her."

My breath caught. "What did she say?"

"She wasn't shouting," Tessa said. "She was crying. She said, 'I know about the tower, Arthur. I know what's in the concrete.'"

I stared at the graffiti on the phone booth. *B.L. + T.M. 4EVER.*

"The tower," I repeated. "The Millennium Tower?"

"I think so. That was the big project then."

"Did she say anything else?"

"She said she was going to the police. That she wouldn't let him turn the company into a graveyard."

"And then?"

"Then a loud noise. Like something heavy hitting the floor. And then silence."

I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the booth.

It wasn't an accident. It wasn't a fall. It was an execution.

Margaret had found out about the bodies. She had found out about the trafficking. And she had threatened to expose him.

So he silenced her.

But he couldn't kill her. Not then. Not with the scrutiny of a billion-dollar construction project on him. If she died under suspicious circumstances, there would be an autopsy. There would be questions.

So he called Dr. Thorne. He bought a diagnosis. He bought a death certificate.

And he locked her away in a prison he built with her own money.

"Tessa," I said. "I'm going to get her out. Tonight."

"You can't," she said. "The guards... they're armed."

"I know," I said. "But I have the keycard. And I have something else."

"What?"

"I have nothing left to lose."

I hung up.

I walked back to the Honda. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the parking lot.

I had the motive. I had the method. I had the location.

Now I just needed to survive the night.

I pulled the burner phone out of my pocket. I had one more text to send.

I typed in Julian's number.

*I know about the tower. Meet me at the facility. Midnight. Or I tell the police where the bodies are buried.*

I hit send.

Then I waited for the three dots to appear.

They didn't.

Instead, a new message popped up on the screen. From an unknown number.

*Come alone. Or don't come at all.*