Chapter 3 - The Neighbor Who Heard Everything
Liam ripped open the front door.
Mrs. Alvarez from the neighboring apartment stood in the hallway wearing a winter coat over her pajamas. Her gray hair was loose, and she was gripping her phone.
“Where is your wife?”
Liam’s throat tightened.
“I don’t know.”
Mrs. Alvarez’s expression hardened.
“I heard a woman crying on your balcony.”
Gwen stepped forward.
“Nora was having one of her episodes.”
Liam stared at her.
“What episodes?”
Gwen ignored him.
“She became unstable after Liam confronted her about stealing money.”
Mrs. Alvarez looked past them toward the open sliding door.
“I also heard another woman speaking to her after midnight.”
The apartment became silent.
Liam turned toward Gwen.
“You told me you went straight to bed.”
“I did.”
Mrs. Alvarez shook her head.
“No. You opened that balcony door after he fell asleep.”
Gwen’s face tightened.
“You couldn’t possibly know that.”
“My bedroom wall faces their balcony,” Mrs. Alvarez replied. “I heard the lock. Then I heard you say, ‘Sign it, or Liam will never forgive you.’”
Liam’s fingers closed around Nora’s ring.
“Sign what?”
Gwen let out a sharp laugh.
“She’s old. She’s confused.”
Mrs. Alvarez raised her phone.
“I recorded part of it.”
Gwen lunged toward her.
Liam caught his sister’s wrist before she reached the phone.
The movement was instinctive, firm, and sudden.
Gwen stared at his hand around her wrist.
Then at his face.
“Let go of me.”
“Where is Nora?”
“I don’t know!”
Mrs. Alvarez tapped the recording.
Through the phone speaker came the muffled sound of the sliding door opening.
Then Gwen’s voice, cold and unmistakable:
“You should have taken the money and kept your mouth shut.”
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Liam stopped breathing.
👉 But the next voice on the recording revealed that Nora had not been alone on the balcony for long.
