Chapter 6 - SEVENTY-FOUR DAYS
Jason shoved open the front door with his suitcase rolling behind him.
He stopped when he saw me sitting beside the stairs in gray sweatpants, the emergency phone resting in my hand.
“Claire?” His shock hardened into anger. “Stop this and answer me right now.”
Linda stood behind him in a burgundy dress. Mark’s face lost its color. Emma remained near the porch, gripping the strap of her backpack.
No lights were on. The water had not yet been restored. My empty pill bottle remained inside an evidence bag on the foyer table.
“You took my medication,” I said. “You killed the power and water. You locked every door from the outside.”
Linda covered her mouth.
Jason set down his suitcase. “My attorney told you not to enter without notice.”
“It’s my house.”
“You’re supposed to be recovering somewhere safe.”
“I was never unsafe because I was sick. I was unsafe because I trusted you.”
He stepped toward me.
Linda caught his arm.
“Jason, what did you do to this house?”
He pulled away from her. “Dad was supposed to check on her. This was never meant to—”
Mark flinched.
Jason stopped speaking.
I slid the memory card from the emergency phone. Emma had set it to record automatically when movement triggered the camera. The angle captured only the lower half of the kitchen, but it had recorded Jason carrying my medicine out.
It had also recorded muddy boots entering later.
“You weren’t the last person who came back,” I whispered.
Jason turned toward his father.
Linda stared at Mark. “You came here?”
Mark’s shoulders collapsed.
“I found her alive.”
Emma stepped away from him.
“You left her?” she asked.
“I thought the nurse was coming.”
“You locked the door,” I said.
Mark looked at me. “Jason said calling immediately would ruin everything.”
“No,” Linda replied. “You decided his company mattered more than whether she survived.”
Jason reached for the emergency phone.
Emma moved between us.
“Don’t touch her.”
It was the first time I had heard her challenge him.
She held up her own phone.
“I sent the messages, the recording and Dad’s statement to Detective Bennett before our plane landed.”
Jason stared at his sister as if he no longer recognized her.
Outside, Dana sounded her car horn once—our agreed signal that five minutes had passed.
I pushed myself upright using the banister.
May you like
Jason did not help me.
For the first time, I had not expected him to.
