Chapter 7: The Night They Moved First
Grace called at eleven that night.
"David.
We have a problem.
Someone tipped off Holbrook's team about the federal involvement.
We don't know who yet, but it came from inside — someone with access to case assignment records."
I was sitting in the hospital parking garage.
I had been going up to Nora's room every few hours and sitting with her until she fell back asleep.
The rest of the time I stayed in the car, where I could think.
"How bad?" I asked.
"Holbrook's attorney has already filed an emergency motion to suppress the server footage on the grounds that the consent obtained from Odum was coerced.
They're arguing Lawson impersonated a federal agent."
"Lawson didn't identify himself as federal."
"I know that.
But the motion creates delay.
And delay is what they want.
If we can't move on the warrant within the next seventy-two hours, the judge they've already contacted — a man named Aldrich — may be able to freeze the evidence pending review."
"Who is Aldrich?"
"He's handled two of the three previously sealed Holbrook cases."
I closed my eyes for a moment.
"Can you go around him?"
"I'm trying.
But it requires getting the assignment transferred, and that takes time we may not have."
"What do you need from me?"
"Emma Reyes.
If she gives her statement tonight, I can file an emergency victim-impact declaration that changes the procedural posture entirely.
It forces the court to treat this as an active victim protection matter, not just an evidence dispute."
"She said she wanted to talk to you directly before committing."
"I know.
I'm asking if you can get her on a call in the next two hours."
I looked at the time.
It was past eleven.
Emma Reyes was in Baton Rouge.
"Give me twenty minutes," I said.
She answered on the third ring.
She sounded like she hadn't been sleeping.
"Ms.
Reyes.
I'm sorry to call this late."
"It's all right.
I wasn't — " A pause.
"I've been thinking about what you said."
"I need to ask you something, and I need to be honest with you about the situation first." I told her about the motion.
About Aldrich.
About the seventy-two-hour window.
"I'm not going to pressure you.
But I want you to understand that if the evidence gets frozen, these three men may not face charges.
Not this time."
The line was quiet.
"The federal attorney is available right now," I said.
"If you're willing."
Another silence.
Longer.
"Mr.
Miller," Emma said.
"When I withdrew from the university, I packed everything I owned into two bags.
I left in the middle of the night because I was afraid that if I waited until morning, I'd change my mind and stay.
And if I stayed, I think — " She stopped.
"I think I would have disappeared in a different way."
"I understand."
"I don't want Nora to pack two bags in the middle of the night."
"No."
"Put the attorney on."
I conferenced in Grace.
I stayed on the line but said nothing.
I listened to Emma Reyes speak for forty-five minutes — clearly, carefully, without hesitation — and describe in precise detail everything that had happened to her fourteen months ago, and everything that had happened after.
When it was over, Grace said, "Ms.
Reyes, you are the bravest person I've spoken to in a long time."
Emma didn't respond to that.
She said, "Is it enough?"
"It's enough," Grace said.
"I'll file within the hour."
After the call ended, I sat in the dark parking garage for a while.
Then my phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number — different from the ones before.
Not a warning this time.
A photograph.
Nora's hospital room.
Taken from outside the window.
She was asleep.
The angle was from the parking structure across the street.
May you like
They were telling me they could reach her.
I was out of the car before I finished reading it.
