Chapter 4 - The Sound of Truth
The speaker on the tablet activated.
The acoustic quality of the high-end recording filled the sterile police room with absolute, terrifying clarity.
“We’re having a baby,” my recorded voice said, sounding so hopeful, so innocent.
“You don’t even look pregnant,” Megan’s sneering voice replied, followed by the sound of shuffling feet and a sharp gasp. “Oh my God! It was an accident!”
Then, a quiet, malicious whisper, so close to the microphone it sounded like it was being spoken directly into the ears of everyone in the room: “I bet I could make everything quiet... if I really wanted to.”
A sickening, heavy thwack of a boot hitting flesh followed. My agonizing, breathless scream ripped through the speaker, followed by the dull, terrifying crack of my skull hitting the coffee table.
Megan froze. The fake tears dried instantly on her face. Her eyes grew wide, her hands shaking so violently she dropped her handkerchief.
But the recording didn't stop there.
“Give me my phone! Emily needs an ambulance!” Nathan’s frantic, desperate voice shouted.
“You need to calm down,” George’s smug, cold voice answered. “Patricia took your phone because you were acting irrationally.”
“She is pregnant and bleeding!”
“Megan tripped,” Patricia’s voice insisted, completely flat, completely devoid of empathy. “Emily panicked and fell backward. If you call emergency services, they’ll treat this like an attack and ruin your sister’s future.”
The Chief of Police looked from the tablet to George Collins, his face darkening with a fury that made his jaw clench. "Shut it off," the Chief whispered to Arthur.
"No, keep it playing," the Chief corrected himself, turning to the uniform officers standing at the door. "Unlock Nathan Parker's cell immediately. Bring him up here. And bring three sets of handcuffs."
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"Wait! No!" George screamed, his face turning a grotesque shade of purple as he realized the trap had snapped shut around them. "That recording is illegal! Colorado is a one-party consent state, but she... she didn't have permission!"
"Emily Parker was the one who activated the recording, George," Arthur Pendelton said, stepping forward until he was inches from my father's face. "And as a senior corporate litigator, she knows the law better than you know how to breathe. It is fully admissible. And it just handed your entire family a ticket to a maximum-security prison."
