Chapter 5 - The Message Megan Never SentDaniel didn't sleep.
He drove to Kate's house before sunrise with the cedar box sitting on the passenger seat.
Vanessa was gone by the time he left.
So was her suitcase.
She had left a single text.
I won't stay in a house where I'm treated like a criminal.
Daniel didn't respond.
At Kate's kitchen table, he spread out everything from the box.
Photographs.
Letters.
The necklace.
The phone.
Kate stared at it all.
“This was in Sophie's room?”
“Hidden in the closet.”
“Vanessa put it there?”
“Sophie says yes.”
Kate picked up the necklace.
“I remember this.”
Daniel nodded.
“Megan wore it almost every day.”
“How did Vanessa get it?”
“I don't know.”
Sophie appeared in the hallway wearing Kate's oversized sweatshirt.
She stopped when she saw the box.
Daniel immediately stood.
“Hey.”
“Did you open it?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa had apparently told Sophie never to touch it.
The girl looked nervous.
“Am I in trouble?”
Daniel crossed the room.
“No.”
He crouched.
“You are not in trouble for anything Vanessa did.”
Sophie looked toward the old phone.
“Is that Mom's?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“Can I see her pictures?”
Daniel's throat tightened.
“If we can get it working.”
Kate knew a repair technician named Aaron who owned a small electronics shop.
At eight thirty, they were waiting when he unlocked the door.
Aaron listened without asking unnecessary questions.
“I can try replacing the battery,” he said. “If the board isn't damaged, it might boot.”
Daniel stood beside the counter while Aaron worked.
Forty minutes later, the screen flickered.
Daniel's breath caught.
Megan's lock screen appeared.
A photograph of Sophie at age five.
Her front teeth missing.
Her face covered in chocolate.
Daniel almost broke.
“I need the passcode,” Aaron said.
Daniel knew it.
Their anniversary.
The phone unlocked.
Hundreds of unread notifications appeared.
Most services no longer connected.
But the photographs remained.
So did old messages.
Daniel searched Vanessa.
Nothing.
Vee.
Nothing.
He searched Megan's college friends.
Then Kate noticed something.
“Look at deleted messages.”
Aaron explained that some deleted database entries could potentially be recovered.
Daniel paid him to try.
By noon, partial fragments began appearing.
Many were meaningless.
Then one message thread surfaced under a number Daniel didn't recognize.
The messages were from the weeks before Megan died.
Unknown: He doesn't deserve you.
Megan: Stop contacting me.
Unknown: Daniel already thinks you're sleeping with Marcus.
Daniel felt his stomach drop.
Marcus.
The man in the hotel photograph.
Megan: You sent him that picture.
Unknown: Maybe he deserved to see who you really are.
Megan: Nothing happened with Marcus.
Unknown: Doesn't matter now.
Kate covered her mouth.
Daniel kept reading.
Megan: Why are you doing this?
Then a partial response:
Unknown: Because he chose the wrong woman.
Daniel sat back.
For a moment nobody spoke.
Aaron quietly turned away.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“Can we identify the number?”
“It may have been prepaid,” Aaron said.
“Try.”
More messages appeared.
Megan: Stay away from Sophie.
Unknown: I would never hurt her.
Megan: You already have.
Unknown: One day she'll understand.
Daniel's hands shook.
Then they recovered a message sent on the night Megan died.
8:41 p.m.
Unknown: Daniel wants to see you.
Megan: He told me not to come.
Unknown: He's angry. He doesn't mean it.
Megan: Where is he?
Unknown: His apartment. Go now before he changes his mind.
Daniel stopped breathing.
At 8:49 that night, Megan had called him.
He had ignored the call.
At 9:17, police records estimated her SUV left the road.
Daniel stood abruptly.
“That message sent her to me.”
Kate looked pale.
“Yes.”
Daniel's vision blurred.
Three years of guilt came rushing back.
He had believed Megan drove there because she was desperate.
But someone had pushed her.
Someone who knew where Daniel lived.
Someone who knew the marriage was collapsing.
Aaron looked up from another computer.
“I found something.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“The number was activated under a fake name, but there are old backup records from an app account connected to it.”
“Connected to what?”
“An email.”
Daniel walked closer.
Aaron rotated the screen.
The email address was strange.
A random sequence of letters and numbers.
But the recovery address wasn't.
Only part of it was visible.
v********e.cole@—
Daniel felt his knees weaken.
Kate whispered:
“Vanessa Cole.”
His wife's maiden name.
Aaron looked between them.
“That mean something?”
Daniel stared at the screen.
“It means my wife sent the message that put Megan on that road.”
His phone rang.
Vanessa.
He stared at her name.
Then answered.
Neither spoke for several seconds.
Finally Vanessa whispered:
“You opened the box.”
Daniel's blood went cold.
“How do you know?”
“I know you.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice became quiet.
“You knew Megan.”
Vanessa exhaled.
“You don't understand what happened.”
“I understand enough.”
“You think you do.”
“You sent her to my apartment that night.”
Silence.
Daniel's hand tightened around the phone.
“Vanessa?”
When she finally answered, her voice was different.
Calm.
Almost tired.
“I never told her to drive that fast.”
Daniel stopped moving.
Kate stared at him.
Vanessa continued:
“I wanted your marriage to end, Daniel.”
May you like
A pause.
“I didn't want Megan to die.”
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