The Other Number

The private investigator's report arrived by email on a Tuesday.

Aaron had recommended the PI — someone who worked the domestic violence circuit, who understood that this wasn't about catching Drake in something dramatic, it was about documenting a pattern. She opened the PDF and read it carefully.

Subject observed at subject's place of employment. Subject departed at 5:14 PM. Observed driving east on Route 9 for approximately 12 miles. Subject stopped at residence of —

She read the address twice.

She knew that address. It was eight miles from her apartment. She didn't know what it was — a property, she thought, something from his family before — but she hadn't known he was going there. She hadn't known he was in the area.

She called Aaron.

"You should be aware of this," she said. "There's a location he may be surveilling from."

"Define 'may be.'"

"It's not in his name — it's listed under a family trust from what I can see. But it's close. It's —"

"Liza." His voice was calm and even, which meant he was taking this seriously. "Send me the address. We'll add it to the motion."

She sent it. She sat at the kitchen table and looked at the map she'd pinned to the wall — her mental map of how far he'd go, how much he knew, what his patterns were — and thought: he knows more than I do.

She'd been building a record for eight months. He'd been building one for longer.

She looked at her evidence log and felt the spreadsheet go thin and cold under her hands.