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Not Quiet

Penulis: Owolola
last update Tanggal publikasi: 2026-11-03 13:34:28

A boot came down on glass, loud in the phone. Nora pushed the volume key until the kitchen was a hiss.

"I'm not talking into this," she said. "My voice would play out of his chest."

"Louder," the boss said.

"No."

He stayed on his rock, hands on his knees. He didn't ask again.

Her split heel had soaked the sock through. She stood on the other foot, pressed the phone to her ear, and said what she heard, flat and in order. "One man. Inside. Boots on tile."

Adrian had a hand on Rachel's coat, over
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  • The Barren Wife's Revenge    Retired

    "Statement. That cruiser. Back."Nora looked up from the bumper, where Rachel was wrapping her heel. She nodded once. Hope's head showed at the neck of her jacket.Adrian walked the twenty feet. The sergeant had a clipboard open on the hood. Adrian gave him the quarry, the fire road, the shelf. He signed with his left hand because the right one wouldn't close. It took six minutes. He watched Nora the whole time.The sergeant read the statement back to him. "You say you didn't know the men on the shelf.""I knew one by his shoes. I never saw his face."The sergeant wrote that down too.When he turned around, the deputies were bringing the tall man down the slide, flat on a stretcher, four to carry. His left shoulder sat wrong under the blanket. The medic ran beside him with a hand on his chest."Collarbone, maybe the joint," the medic said. "He needs a hospital, not a county cell.""Rescue truck, then," Lore said. "You drive him. A deputy on his door. One the sergeant picks.""Not one

  • The Barren Wife's Revenge    Desk Code

    Three county cars came down the cut with their headlights on and stopped nose to the slab. Nora heard it through the glass. Adrian's back stayed against her window."Hands open," Lore called. "Everybody on this wash. Open. Nobody reaches for anything."Nora zipped Hope under her jacket and pushed the door with her foot. Hope was quiet and full against her ribs. The cap was down again.A heavy man got out of the first car, slow, both hands out from his sides. Gray mustache. Sergeant's stripes on a jacket that was too small."Sergeant," he said. "County. Who's in charge here?""I am." Lore held her badge in the headlights. "Where have you been for an hour and a half?""Riverside. Foot of the drive. The desk called it in at one twenty-six. Contact secured, hold position, wait for the sheriff's word. We held until two-oh-three." He looked at the deputy on the slab. "Then a federal car pulled in behind us. The agent said wash, fire road, go. So we came.""Our man at Riverside called that d

  • The Barren Wife's Revenge    Under The Cap

    "Don't answer it," Nora said."I won't." Lore held the phone inside her sleeve. "If it goes quiet, they know it's been found. If I answer, they know who found it. Rachel, time.""Two eighteen.""Deputy, I need a bag.""Back seat of the cruiser," the deputy said. "Evidence bags in the pocket behind the seat.""Getting the bag," Adrian said. "Ten steps. Right there.""Go," Nora said.The cruiser's door stood open. Its dome light stayed dark, off on the switch. He found the bags and a first aid kit under them and carried both back with his bad hand held high so it wouldn't drip.Lore dropped the phone in, sealed it, and wrote the time across the strip. It buzzed inside the bag."Two nineteen." She read through the plastic. "'Answer.'"Nobody moved. The bag buzzed again and stopped."Rachel, write both.""Writing.""Nora, Adrian's phone," Rachel said. "It's been on since one thirty-five.""Off," Lore said. "Hold the button until it's black."Nora took it out of her coat with one hand. She

  • The Barren Wife's Revenge    The Cab

    "Open it," Nora shouted up the slide. "It's two oh six. Open it now."Rock threw her voice back at her. The deputy kept his flashlight on the ground between his boots."Lore!""I heard you." The answer came from above the shelf, small and far. "Driver's walking me up. Nobody on this hill touches a phone.""Nobody.""Whatever's in that cab, I carry down. I don't read it up here.""Bring it down," Nora said.A beam crossed the rim and went out. Rachel stood by the slab with both arms locked over her coat. Her hands shook. She hadn't let go of Hope in an hour."Two oh seven," Rachel said."Give her to me."Rachel didn't move. "You said they'd grab whoever held her.""He's gone. Nobody's on the rock.""Nora.""My arms aren't shaking. Yours are."Rachel looked at Adrian. He looked at the ground."It's hers to say," he said.Rachel opened the coat a hand's width. Nora took the weight against her chest, under her own jacket, and zipped it to her chin. Hope was warm. She wasn't warm enough. T

  • The Barren Wife's Revenge    Ten Past

    Two o'clock came and the phone on the slab stayed dark.Nora held out Adrian's phone. "Hold it. Loud.""Okay."He took it in his left hand and turned the speaker up. His right hand he kept on his thigh."Two oh one," Rachel said.The phone lit. Vivian's voice came out small and fast. "He's on the drive. Lights off. He's getting out.""Say everything," Nora said. "Out loud.""Porch door's open. Glass on the floor inside. There's a chair on its side. Nobody on the porch."The phone on the slab lit. The deputy was bent over it before anyone told him to. "It says, 'Out.'""That's him," the cuffed man said. "He's gone out the back."The boss said nothing. He sat on the flat rock with his hands on his knees, and he was looking up the slide again."He's in the kitchen," Vivian said. "A man on the floor behind the island. Awake. Hurt, not bad. Back door's open and there are two sets of boots across the yard to the east tree line. The room with the crib is empty. Window shut.""Ask him what he

  • The Barren Wife's Revenge    The Key

    Lore's voice came down the slide, thin and clear. "Say why!""So the man down here can hear you do it!"Nothing came back. Rachel breathed in twice. Nora felt the heel in her sock, wet and warm, and kept her weight on the other foot."Driver!" Lore called. "The lanyard!"A boy's voice answered, too far off to make out. Then Lore again. "It's the truck's, not yours. Give it here."A small snap of plastic carried down the rock. Then metal on metal."I have it!"The thin man's voice came down after it, hoarse and angry. "Tell her to give it back.""Sit," Lore said. "Hands where I can see them.""Hold it!" Nora called. "Don't use it!""Understood!"The boss breathed out through his nose.The boss put both hands on his knees and pushed. He was on his feet before the deputy's pistol came up."Put that back on him," the boss said. "It isn't hers to take.""She's only holding it," Nora said. "That's all.""Put it back.""No," Nora said."Sir, sit down," the deputy said.He didn't sit. He didn

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