Chapter 6: The Woman Who Called From the Other Side
I didn't speak for a moment.
"Why are you calling me?" I asked.
"Because what Mr.
Crane is planning to do isn't right," Carol said.
"And I've worked in law long enough to know the difference."
"You could lose your job for this."
"Yes." A pause.
"I'm retiring in six weeks.
I've been in this office for nineteen years.
I've watched Mr.
Crane do this to three other women in the last four years.
I'm tired of it."
I moved to the living room and sat down.
"Tell me what you know," I said.
"Your husband brought in a recording," Carol said.
"A partial recording of a phone call.
He claims it's you and your CFO discussing the Dalton projections.
The audio quality is poor and the conversation is incomplete — it cuts off mid-sentence.
But Mr.
Crane intends to present it to the licensing board as evidence of deliberate misrepresentation."
"He recorded my phone calls."
"It appears so.
From inside the house, I would assume."
I thought of every call I had taken in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the home office with the door half-open because I had never imagined I needed to close it.
"Is the recording usable?" I asked.
"That's the thing," Carol said.
"Your state requires two-party consent for recorded conversations.
If he recorded you without your knowledge, the recording is inadmissible.
It may also expose him to civil liability."
"Does Crane know this?"
A pause.
"Mr.
Crane knows the recording has problems.
He's planning to use it as a pressure tool, not as actual evidence.
The goal is to frighten you into settling before anyone examines it closely."
I stared at the far wall.
"Carol," I said carefully, "would you be willing to put any of this in writing?"
A long silence.
"Not while I'm still employed," she said.
"But in six weeks, I won't be."
"I understand." I kept my voice even.
"Is there anything else in the file I should know about?"
"He has the conversation with your CFO.
The coffee shop meeting.
He's framing it as your CFO confirming the misrepresentation to a third party.
But from what I read, your CFO said the opposite."
"He did."
"Then you have a witness who directly contradicts the recording's implied meaning." Another pause.
"Ms.
Hartwell, I've said more than I should.
Please be careful with how you use this."
"I will.
Thank you."
The line went quiet.
I sat in the dark living room for a moment, then called Grace.
"I need you to research two-party consent recording law in this state," I said.
"Tonight."
"Why?"
"Because Anthony recorded my phone calls.
And Crane knows the recording is legally compromised but plans to use it as a pressure tool anyway."
Grace was quiet for exactly three seconds.
"Where did you get this?"
"A source I can't name yet.
But the information is specific and credible."
"All right." Her voice shifted into something sharper.
"If he recorded you without consent, that's a civil violation.
Potentially a criminal one depending on how it was obtained.
That changes the entire posture of this case."
"It also means he was planning this while we were still living together."
"Yes," Grace said.
"It does." A pause.
"Olivia, I want you to walk through your house tonight.
Check the home office, the kitchen, anywhere you regularly took calls.
Look for anything that shouldn't be there.
A small device, a phone charger that isn't yours, anything plugged in or placed somewhere unusual."
I stood up and turned on the hallway light.
"I'll do it now."
"Call me if you find anything."
I moved through the house slowly, room by room.
The kitchen.
The office.
The bedroom.
The shelf beside the front door where he used to leave his keys.
In the home office, behind the router on the bottom shelf, I found a small black device the size of a thumb drive.
It was plugged into a power strip I never used.
A tiny red light blinked once when I moved the strip.
I did not touch it.
I took a photograph.
May you like
Then I called Grace.
"I found something," I said.
