But Gloria was no longer looking at a coat.
She was looking at proof that nine months of unanswered calls had finally ended in the worst possible way.
Two patrol cars arrived within seven minutes.
Officer Naomi Chen came up my drive while her partner, Officer Ellis Barnes, guided Gloria toward the curb.
I knew Naomi from a community audio workshop at the public library, but I had never expected to see her in uniform at the edge of my lawn.
“Are you injured?” she asked me.
“My cheek hurts.
My glasses are down there.”
Naomi looked at the broken birdbath, the scratched red skin below my jaw, and the expression on Gloria’s face.
“Tell me what happened.”
I explained the sudden attack, the accusations, and the raincoat.
Gloria interrupted from the street.
“His garage is full of equipment for hiding voices.”
Naomi glanced toward the speakers, then back at me.
“What kind of equipment?”
“Audio restoration.
I clean old recordings for museums, oral-history projects, and local radio.”
I had also spent the past month helping a legal-aid clinic examine a set of suspicious voice messages, but I had promised the clinic not to discuss its cases with neighbors.
That detail mattered more than I realized.
“Have you heard a young woman speaking in there?”
Naomi asked.
“I heard several recordings today.
I was checking dialogue for a play.”
Gloria took two steps toward us before Barnes stopped her with an open hand.
“Molly is seventeen, and he has her voice.”
Naomi went perfectly still.
“Gloria, listen to me.
We have information about Molly, but we cannot discuss it in the middle of the street.”
Gloria’s mouth fell open.
“You found her?”
“We have verified that Molly is alive and safe.”
The words seemed to strike Gloria harder than any shouted accusation.
She gripped the officer’s sleeve.
“Then why hasn’t she come home?”
Naomi looked at Barnes, who nodded, and spoke quietly enough that the gathering neighbors had to strain to hear.
“Molly is not being held by Mr. Reed.
She has been in contact with a county advocate, and she has asked for her location to remain private.”
Gloria made a sound between a gasp and a sob.
“That’s a lie.
I spoke to her last night.
She said he had her.”
Naomi’s expression tightened.
“Did someone send you another recording?”
Gloria pulled an old smartphone from her cardigan pocket.
Her hands were shaking so badly that she could barely unlock it.
