Chapter 3 - The Pharmacy Call
Two weeks later, my phone rang at 9:41 in the morning.
Unknown number.
I answered.
For three seconds, I heard only breathing.
Then my mother whispered, “Rachel?”
I stood so quickly my chair hit the wall.
“Where are you?”
“Restroom. Pharmacy on Willow.”
“Is he with you?”
“In the parking lot.”
“How much time do you have?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
That was enough.
She told me Garrick had hit her again after she mentioned speaking to a divorce attorney. He had leaned close afterward and said if she ever left him, he would make sure neither of us lived long enough to enjoy it.
My body went cold.
Not with panic.
With focus.
“Are you hurt badly?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Leave through the back if there is one. Do not return to his car. I’m sending someone.”
My former partner, Ethan Reyes, picked up on the first ring. He was now a Supervisory Special Agent and still had the same gift for becoming silent when the facts turned ugly.
I gave him what I had: photographs, medical documentation, recorded threats, Garrick’s firearms history, and financial records suggesting he had moved large sums from my mother’s accounts into shell contractors.
When I finished, Ethan asked one question.
“Does he know who you were?”
“No.”
“Good,” he said. “Let’s keep it that way.”
Within an hour, Helen was at a confidential medical exam with a domestic violence attorney beside her. By evening, emergency funds had been moved into an account Garrick could not access.
By Monday morning, she filed for divorce.
By noon, Garrick emptied every joint account he could reach.
By sunset, half the neighborhood had heard that my mother was mentally unstable and that I was “manipulating” her for money.
That night, Garrick texted me.
Tell your mother to withdraw the divorce. Family business stays inside the family.
I replied with four words.
Stay away from her.
Seconds later, he called.
He laughed the moment I answered.
“You actually think I’m afraid of you?”
May you like
“No,” I said calmly. “I think you’ve made the biggest mistake of your life.”
His laughter stopped.
