“They will release you into my custody.”

“Who are you?” Kyle asks.

She doesn’t answer him. She waits. She glances at the phone she’s tried to give him.

Kyle takes a deep breath. “I need you to explain.”

“And I need you to trust me and to call your wife.” The warning woman’s voice is even and strong.

Kyle stares at her, trying to decide. Realizing this might be the most important decision of his life.

66

Iris

“He says you know how to break into computers and stuff,” Iris says to Peter. “Can you break into this phone?”

She’s phoned Peter and he’s reluctantly let her come over to his house. At the front door she gives him an awkward hug, and she notices he doesn’t hug her back.

“Grant was here a bit ago. Dad’s been checking in on him. But he went back home.”

“Can you do this quickly?”

“Yes. I don’t like sounding like a criminal,” Peter says. But he examines the phone, turning it over on its back.

“What?”

“I’m looking to see if it’s modified in any way,” Peter says. “Whose is it?”

She can’t say It belongs to the man Julia is accused of killing. “Someone who I think could clear my daughter’s name.”

His eyes widen. “Then this is police evidence. Take it to them.”

“Well, here’s the deal, Peter. I stole it.”

Peter stares at her for a moment. “This is a mistake.”

“Those people, whoever’s behind this, this is who killed Danielle. Please help me with this.”

Peter sighs but takes the phone and disappears into a back room. He pauses at the door and says, “It’s better you don’t know what I do.” And then the door closes and Iris sits down to wait.

She texts Grant. There’s no immediate answer, and considering that half her family is in dire trouble, this unsettles her.

She wishes she could talk to Kyle and Julia just in that moment. To let them know she is fighting for them, fighting against whatever darkness spread its wings across their lives.

Grant texts her back: I’m fine. Where are you?

She says back: OK I’ll be home soon.

Grant says: something’s wrong with my phone battery.

And then nothing more.

She waits for a few more minutes.

Her phone rings, but it’s not a number she recognizes, so she doesn’t answer it, and she tucks her phone away as Peter comes back down the hall.

“I got into it,” he simply says. “There’s no email on it, and only a few contacts and texts. I don’t know any of these names. Do they mean anything to you?”