Chapter 24 - Eyes in the Dark
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With Nora now staying under police protection at a safehouse and Clara Montgomery preparing her formal deposition, Victor was growing increasingly desperate.
He was trapped under home confinement at his penthouse, but a cornered animal is always at its most dangerous.
I was driving back from a meeting with our legal team on a foggy Tuesday afternoon when I noticed a dark metallic gray SUV three cars behind me on the highway.
Every time I changed lanes, the SUV matched my movement. When I took a sudden off-ramp toward a gas station, the SUV followed, parking near the outer perimeter of the lot, its engine idling, its windows heavily tinted.
I sat in my sedan, my pulse racing, and picked up my phone to call Detective Singh.
“Emily, what’s wrong?” Singh answered on the first ring.
“I’m being followed,” I said, keeping my eyes fixed on the gray SUV in my rearview mirror. “It’s a gray Ford Explorer, no rear license plate.”
“Where are you right now?”
“At the Shell station on Route 9,” I replied. “Detective, Victor has an ankle monitor on. It can’t be him driving, right?”
“Hold on, let me check his GPS feed,” Singh said, the sound of rapid keyboard clacking echoing through the receiver. A second later, her tone shifted dramatically. “Emily, get inside the gas station store immediately!”
“What is it?” I asked, my hand trembling as I reached for the door handle.
“Victor’s ankle monitor signal was spoofed twenty minutes ago,” Singh shouted over the phone. “The transmitter is sitting in his penthouse, attached to a roaming roomba! He’s not at home, Emily! Get into a public space right now!”
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Before I could open my car door, the driver’s side door of the gray SUV burst open. A tall figure wearing a dark hoodie and leather gloves stepped out, stepping briskly straight toward my vehicle.
It was Victor.
