Chapter 3 - The Secret Message
The lights in the auditorium dimmed as the children took the stage.
Meredith held my hand in the dark, her fingers feeling cold against mine.
I felt physically sick sitting between the two monsters who were destroying my daughter.
When Chloe walked up to the piano, she left her small purse on the chair next to me.
Under the cover of the dark auditorium, I slowly unzipped her bag.
I reached inside and felt the cold plastic of the burner phone.
I pulled it out and shielded the glowing screen with my heavy jacket.
The phone was locked, but a new text message was displaying on the notification screen.
I held my breath and read the glowing green letters.
The message was from an unsaved number.
It read, "Did he believe the story about Richard?"
My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit.
If the message was asking if I believed the story about Richard, that meant Richard wasn't the abuser.
Chloe had intentionally lied to me.
But the violent handprints on her back were undeniably real.
If Richard didn't put them there, and Meredith didn't hold her down, who did?
I looked up from the phone and stared at the brightly lit stage.
Chloe was playing the piano perfectly, but her eyes were not looking at the sheet music.
She was staring directly up at the lighting booth at the back of the auditorium.
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I slowly turned around in my seat to see who she was looking at.
A man in a black tactical mask was standing in the shadows of the booth, staring right back at me.
