Chapter 3 - The Burner Phone
The metallic click of the handcuffs echoing in the small room sounded like a death sentence.
"You are under arrest for the attempted murder of your wife and child," Detective Miller announced.
I violently pulled my hands away and backed myself into the corner of the interrogation room.
"You have to check my car's GPS system and the highway toll cameras!" I screamed in sheer panic.
I told them those cameras would absolutely prove I was driving toward Toledo for the past four days.
The detective hesitated for a fraction of a second before signaling his partner to wait.
He left the room, locking the heavy steel door behind him.
I paced back and forth, praying that modern technology would save me from my mother's evil trap.
Two agonizing hours later, Detective Miller returned with a very different expression on his face.
He unlocked my handcuffs and offered me a lukewarm cup of coffee.
"The toll cameras confirmed your exact location, proving you were hundreds of miles away when the poison was administered," he admitted reluctantly.
I let out a massive breath of relief and rubbed my bruised wrists.
"We also traced the IP address of the fake email that sent you on that phantom work trip," Miller continued.
He explained that the email did not come from my mother or my sister.
It was traced to a highly encrypted burner phone purchased by a man named Arthur Vance.
I stared at the detective in absolute confusion.
"I have no idea who Arthur Vance is," I told him honestly.
The detective flipped a page in his notebook and looked at me with deep sympathy.
"Arthur Vance is a notoriously wealthy and dangerous real estate developer," Miller explained.
He took a deep breath before dropping the most shocking revelation of my life.
"He is also your wife's biological father."
I told the detective that was impossible because Emily's father had died in a car crash twenty years ago.
"Your wife lied to you, Ethan," the detective said softly.
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Before I could ask another question, a uniformed officer burst into the room looking completely terrified.
"Child Protective Services just bypassed hospital security and took the baby," the officer shouted.
