Chapter 7 - The Audio Trap
The security guards closed in on me from both sides of the aisle.
Guests were backing away, terrified by Brett's convincing performance of a desperate father.
Eleanor rushed into the room, screaming that I was dangerous and needed to be restrained.
One of the guards reached out to grab the handle of June's stroller.
I violently slapped his hand away and pulled a small black remote from my purse.
I had already paid the hotel's disgruntled audio-visual technician three hundred dollars in cash.
He was waiting in the sound booth at the back of the room for my exact signal.
I pressed the single button on the remote.
The soft classical music playing in the background abruptly cut off.
A loud, piercing burst of radio static blasted through the massive ballroom speakers.
Then, my own terrified, coughing voice filled the entire room.
It was the 911 dispatch recording from the night of the fire.
The crowd stood completely paralyzed as they listened to me beg for my life.
They heard me explicitly tell the dispatcher that my husband had taken the only car.
They heard the pure, undeniable terror in my voice as I said Brett and Tessa's names.
Brett's face went completely red as he screamed for the sound guy to cut the audio.
He desperately yanked at the microphone cables on the stage, trying to short out the system.
The recording ended with the chilling sound of the dispatcher asking for a response while I lay unconscious.
The wealthy donors and reporters turned their eyes back to Brett, and their pity had transformed into absolute disgust.
The security guards stopped in their tracks, refusing to touch me.
Brett looked around frantically, realizing his perfect public facade had just shattered into a million pieces.
He turned to Tessa, grabbing her arm and demanding she tell everyone that the tape was a fake.
Tessa looked at the angry crowd, then looked at my baby in the stroller.
May you like
She forcefully ripped her arm out of Brett's grip and stepped up to the main microphone.
She looked directly at Brett and said it was time to tell them what else he burned that night.
