Page 100 of Confessions of the Dead

“Go ahead. When I get in front of a judge, I can’t wait to tell him about the police brutality I’ve suffered today. How you tossed procedure out the window and let your emotions get the better of you.” Josh looked up at Gabby, a grin slipping across his face. “He ever call you Addie when he’s slipping his dick in? I bet he has.”

Gabby nearly kicked him, but Matt managed to grab her foot before she could connect. She struggled in his arms as she glareddown at Josh. “You’re a piece of shit. Every time you step into the diner, half the town starts talking about you and Nancy Buckley. How you’re off screwing her while your wife was at home coming apart. How you fed Lynn pills like some kind of Band-Aid. You know, even if she killed your kids, then killed herself, that’s on you. You put her in that state of mind. And that’s a bigif, because I think you killed all of them, you crazy shit!”

Both his arms around her, Matt lifted Gabby from the ground and spun her around so she was facing the opposite direction. He pressed his mouth against her ear. “Don’t let him get under your skin. That’s what he wants. Take a breath, ignore him. He’s going to spend the rest of his life behind bars, just like he deserves.”

“Let go of me,” she hissed back between clenched teeth. Her eyes shot toward Addie. “I’m not so sure he’s wrong about you.”

She pulled away from him and stomped back into the kitchen.

Matt let her go. He knew better than to try to reason with her when she was upset.

“Lovely girl,” Addie mocked. “It’s so obvious what you see in her.”

Josh chuffed. “I think he just likes Mexican.”

Matt held both his hands up. “Enough! Both of you. This isn’t high school.” He crossed over to the kitchen doorway, grabbed the phone off the wall, and tossed it down to Josh. He caught it in his free hand.

“What am I supposed to do with this? You heard your girlfriend; it’s useless.”

Matt took out his cell, loaded his emergency contact list, and tossed that down to him, too. “I want you to call everyone on that list. When you reach the bottom, you start over. You stop, and I’m locking you in a closet until this is over.” He turned to Addie. “And you …” He bit his lip, choked his anger back. “Ellie has a shortwave radio around here somewhere. I need you to find it.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” She held his gaze for a moment, offered a mock salute, then went upstairs.

“Peterson’s gonna come back,” Josh said. “He’ll put a bullet in your head, then mine, then both your girls, and that will be on you, just like all this other bullshit, because you’re a shitty cop.”

Matt wasn’t about to take the bait. “Dial.”

At the mention of Peterson’s name, he remembered the USB drive Peterson had given him and took it from his pocket. He glanced around the living room and spotted Ellie’s old Dell laptop on the coffee table under some various pieces of mail.

He powered on the machine, located the sole video file on the drive, and clicked Play.

Matt watched the video in complete silence, somehow managing to tune out the others. There was nothing but the thumping of his heart. When it finished, he hit Play again, dumbfounded.

77

LOG 10/16/2023 21:51 GMT-4

TRANSCRIPT: AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING

Analysis Note: The subject’s vitals dropped again for nearly a minute before restoring. Sordello has made it clear she doesn’t want anyone going in there to check the equipment.

Sordello:

Tell me about the video.

Maro:

I don’t want to talk about the video.

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