Page 26 of Not Quite Dead Yet

‘What time did he send that?’ Ecker asked, voice picking up speed.

Jet swiped the message to see.

‘10:58 p.m.’

‘After you were attacked.’ It wasn’t a question. ‘Why is he apologizing to you?’

Jet shrugged.

‘You can’t think of any reason?’ Ecker sidestepped to face her, to study her eyes.

‘No. Not really,’ Jet said, meeting his gaze. ‘We’ve beenbroken up a while, since July. He didn’t want to, but it’s fine. It’s been fine. I bumped into him at the fair –’

‘– Did you speak? What did he say to you? What time?’

‘Nothing. I think it was around ten. He asked to talk to me, about somethingimportant, which I knew meant he wanted to talk about us, so I blew him off.’

‘Are you sure that’s all?’

Now Jet’s eyes were troubled. ‘I have no reason to withhold anything from you. I want to solve this more than you do. I didn’t give JJ a chance to talk to me at the fair – I don’t know what he wanted. And I don’t know why he sentSorryto me. Or why he’s left town, not answering his phone.’

‘I can think of a reason,’ Jack said quietly.

‘Sergeant,’ Ecker snapped in his direction, sharpening the consonants to a point.

‘You think he tried to kill me, then texted meSorrytwelve minutes later?’ Jet asked, not to any of them in particular: collective cop. ‘The timing is weird; I give you that. But the killer took my phone. Why would JJ text the phone he knew he had?’

‘Well, it came up on your watch, didn’t it?’ Ecker said.

‘Could have been symbolic,’ added the chief.

‘But if the killer has my phone … wait,’ Jet stalled, her heart picking up on it the same time as her head. ‘The killerhasmy phone, I’m so stupid.’ But she wasn’t; the cops were. Why had they wasted time looking at heart-rate data and messages? ‘Find My Phone,’ Jet explained, turning back to the watch, scrolling through the home screen until she found the little green app. Pressed it.

Three devices were listed.

Jet’s Apple Watch.Battery half full.With you now,it said.

Jet’s MacBook Air.Low battery.At home.Upstairs in her room.

Jet’s iPhone 14.

Jet clicked the final option and it expanded.

Jet’s iPhone 14. Woodstock, VT. Last connected Friday, 10:56 p.m.

A map appeared on the little screen. Small white roads, gray background, and a blue flashing dot. The location of her phone.

Ecker pointed at the screen. ‘Where is that?’

Jet zoomed in until the road names appeared, and the bend in the Ottauquechee River.

‘River Street,’ she said. ‘Near the corner of North Street. Just beyond Elm Street Bridge. That’s less than five minutes away.’

Most of Woodstock was less than five minutes away.

The blue dot didn’t look like it was sitting in any of the houses, out there in the middle of the road.

‘Last connected Friday at 10:56 p.m.,’ Jet read out. ‘So that’s when they turned it off, hasn’t been on since. But it was there, right there, when they turned it off.’

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