Page 10 of Cipher

“Can you tell us what happened before you called?” I asked.

Nina swallowed. “I saw Jeff outside. Through the living room window. He was just standing there, staring at the house. Then my phone started going off.”

When she paused, I gently prodded, “Was it Jeff?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t have known right away if I hadn’t spotted him because I had his phone number blocked. He must’ve gotten a new one.” She reached for the cell on the bedside table with her good hand and unlocked it with shaking fingers. “He sent these right before I hid.”

She turned the screen toward me.

Unknown caller

You really thought that a protected address would hide you?

I paid good money to find it.

The first texts were scary, but the next few shocked me.

Unknown caller

Don’t bother calling anyone else.

The cops aren’t coming.

They’ll be too busy with a supposed rollover.

The bastard knew exactly what was going to happen.

Nina sniffled, her eyes filling with tears. “He was so sure the police wouldn’t come in time. But you made sure they rescued me. Thank you.”

“I was only doing my job.” I reached out to squeeze her hand. “But you’re welcome.”

We chatted for a couple more minutes before the nurse came in. “Time’s up. She needs to rest now.”

My dad stepped forward. “We really need to secure those texts before he tries to wipe your device remotely. Do we have your permission to download the phone data so we can build our case?”

“Um, yeah. Whatever you need.” Her hand shook as she held her cell out to my dad. “Will I get it back soon?”

Cipher took the phone from my dad and nodded. “A few hours at most.”

“Okay.”

When we were out in the hallway, where Nina couldn’t overhear, I muttered, “The text about the rollover wasn’t a guess. Someone told him exactly what was going to happen.”

“You’re right.” Cipher looked up from the phone screen. “Someone with access fed him the information. And based on these time stamps, they did it before the call was ever erased.”

His focus returned to the device as we left the hospital, the automatic doors sliding shut behind us. My dad was on his phone a few paces ahead, but Cipher remained beside me.

I glanced sideways at him. “You’re very quiet.”

He didn’t look up. “I’m thinking.”

“Dangerous habit.”

That earned me a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth. It was by no means a smile, but I still counted it as a victory.

Three weeks ago, he’d made it clear we weren’t happening. But now I wondered if he actually believed it.

4