“Bethany, you look well,” Jeter said. “It’s so good to see you. I chose this computer for a reason. I want you to set your phone against the screen and keep your hands resting on the front of the keyboard, but not typing anything. This way I can see you and your hands, and I can hear you.”
“What do you want?” she said softly.
“Right at this moment I want to make sure nobody knows that you’re talking to me. So I’m going to turn off the video feed on my end—” the phone screen went black “—but I can still see and hear you. Now, put the phone where I said and your hands on the keyboard. I know what you’re capable of, and we’ll not have any of that.”
She did as he asked.
“Good. That’s very good, Bethany.”
Bile curdled in her gut and her fingers began to shake. This was just like when she’d been a child. He’d always been behind her back, looking over her shoulder, where she couldn’t see him. All she’d ever been able to do was hear his voice.
“How do you have Tanner’s phone?” she finally got out.
“He lent it to me.”
“I find that hard to believe.” The best possible scenario would be that Jeter had somehow stolen Tanner’s phone without him being aware of it. The worst... Bree couldn’t even stand to think about the worst.
“How about you just ask him yourself.”
Tension flooded her body. “What?”
Instead of a picture on her phone, a small video box opened on the computer screen.
It was Tanner, lying in a box—a casket. His hands were bound and crossed on his chest. He had a gag in his mouth.
Bree couldn’t hold back the little sob that escaped her.
“Quiet now, Bethany. If you let anyone know you’re talking to me, you’re going to watch your boyfriend die pretty brutally. After all, he’s already in a casket. Makes cleanup pretty easy.”
“You son of a—”
Bree’s words were cut off as Whitaker walked up to her. Instantly the video box containing Tanner disappeared from the screen.
“Everything okay?” Whitaker asked.
Bree’s fingers grasped the end of the keyboard hard. Jeter was watching. If she moved to warn Whitaker she had no doubt Tanner was a dead man.
“Yeah. Just wrapping things up. Ready to get home—you know how it is.”
“What did Tanner say when he called?”
Bree swallowed hard, struggling not to give herself away. “Not much. That he would be back soon and we would talk.”
Think. She had to figure out a way to let Whitaker or someone know Jeter had Tanner.
“All right. I’ll let you finish up here. I’m not going to fly back to Risk Peak for another couple of days. Just want to make sure Penelope doesn’t need any further help.”
“I’m sure she appreciates that.”
Whitaker gave her a smile and walked off. Bree wanted to scream out for him to come back.
“See, you handled that quite well.” Jeter’s voice came back on in her ear. The picture popped back on the computer screen. “Now maybe if you continue to follow directions so well, your Tanner will live to see another day.”
It was all she could do to stop herself from reaching up and touching the screen. Touching Tanner. As if her touch could somehow make this all go away.
“It’s like the case you’ve been working, isn’t it? I’ve been watching. I can’t help but be proud of what you did there. Helping arrest Gresham, Elliot the others. Those people were reasonably adept. The Dallas Police Department would’ve never caught them without your help. The women in the boxes would be dead.”
“Were you a part of all this?” Bree didn’t know how it was possible, but if it was, Jeter would be the one to accomplish it.
