I laughed out loud. “And you believe this?”
Max shoved the phone back into his pocket, a sad, pitying look on his face. “Savannah … look. I have to ask. I know things have been stressful lately. Are you sure you didn’t have, maybe, a drink or two and just … forgot?”
I was so mad I started pacing, my hands in my hair, tempted to pull out entire tufts as I screamed. “I swear to God, if one more person asks me that, I’m going to lose my mind, Max. I’ll get on the phone with Dr. Quinlan’s office right now and have them read to you the results of all of my blood and urine tests since the day I found out I was pregnant! They are all completely clean!”
Max opened his mouth to respond, but I wasn’t done.
“Oh—and did I mention the tech at the cellular store found a spy app on my phone, Max? And that they said my phone was probably cloned? I’ve tried to tell you many times that I thought someone had done something to my phone. There was the text that looked like it came from my boss but it didn’t, the text I sent you about the ultrasound that you say you never got, and nowthisphony text. Well, I was right. Any idea who could possibly be behind all of it?” Sarcasm dripped like acid from my voice.
“I don’t see how it could be Madison. She’s not exactly tech-savvy. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to do any of that stuff either.”
“Pretty sure she figured it out, Max. You can find anything on YouTube if you search hard enough.”
Max’s face was creased with concern. But I didn’t want concern. I wanted action.
“Let me talk to her, and see if we can figure this out, okay?”
Yeah, I’m not holding my breath.“Go for it. But in the meantime, I need to protect myself and my child.”
“What does that mean? Savannah, I would never let anything happen to our child either.”
“Until you decide to do something about your girlfriend, I don’t want to hear it,” I said. I walked past him and held the front door open for him. I was done.
Max sighed as he walked past me. He didn’t look angry. Just sad. “I will talk to her, Savannah. Please … take care of yourself, okay? I’ll talk to you soon.”
I closed the door as he walked away.
CHAPTER16
IWAS JUSTLEAVINGwork the next day when I got a text from Ellie.
Come to the bistro tonight. Marcus has news.
I went straight from work. Ellie was busy mixing martinis for a waiter’s four-top. I didn’t have to wait long until Marcus walked over and placed the phone on the bar in front of me, along with a small, folded-up piece of paper. He walked away without a word.
“Uh … thanks!” I called out after him.
Ellie and I shared an electrically charged look from across the bar. I unfolded the scrap of paper. A name: Jamie McElroy; and a six-digit passcode.Got you, I thought with a smirk.
My heart was racing as I typed the code into the phone.
And just like that, I was in. The home screen appeared, with all her apps in neat little rows. Where should I start? Photos, I decided.
Most of them were of her son, playing with Legos or at the playground, a big, toothy smile on his face. Interspersed with kid photos were some shots of city streets. I clicked on one.
Aha.It was me, sitting on the front steps outside of my apartment building, just moments before I confronted her. I continued swiping, my pulse racing. There were a few selfies ofher at a wine bar with another woman, and then more of me walking down the street.
A few of me and Max, standing outside my apartment talking. Shots taken through the front window of the cell phone store, zoomed in on me and Oliver. One of me walking out of the store, carrying my purse and a bag with my new phone and SIM card in it.
I kept swiping. There I was again, walking into the Alto Lounge with a smile on my face, not yet knowing I was deplorably late. The next photo was my parked car, around the corner.Was she the one who messed with my car too?If so, she was guilty of more than just stalking—she was guilty of vandalism and property damage.
I scrolled all the way back to the High Note, expecting to find all the images the DCS investigator had showed me—but there was only one picture from that night.We all saw Madison there—maybe she took the others? They have to be working together then.
I chewed on a fingernail as I swiped the photo app closed.But what’s her connection to Madison? Just a devoted friend?Next, I tapped the Messages icon.
Though I didn’t know any of the people in her text history by name, it wasn’t hard to deduce who most of them were. A woman named Claire texted Jamie a lot about pickup and drop-off times—likely a fellow preschool mom or a babysitter. “Mom” was pretty obvious, and a woman named Taylor seemed to be her sister. Then I saw a contact called “Her.” I clicked on their latest thread.
Yep.Jamie had sent Her all the photos of me, going back a few months. I read through the texts in between.
