Found Obsession

Chapter 48: Morse Code

November 29, 2004

Then two questions formed in Rose's mind, and they weighed heavily on her.

First, how was she going to bring this to the police—or worse, to Riley? She couldn’t exactly explain that she had hacked multiple government institutions in her house without risking arrest. She could actually care less this was a child's sake. She bit her lip.

She imagined Riley's face, the betrayal he'd feel, and the legal consequences that would follow. Would they even believe her after that?

And second, how was she going to confirm that Bruce Jones was on that third list?

Rose stared at the USB in her hand she had placed Brianna's expedient all the footage and Elizabeth’s pictures, her heart pounding. She had printed Riley's family photo, Bruce Jones’ image, and the zoomed picture of Elizabeth Canter's family with Brianna in the background. It was all there—the horrifying connection—but it wasn’t enough.

She sat back, fingers trembling as she began searching Bruce Jones. Her stomach dropped when the Hansley security program blocked her search. Her family’s program.

Panic rose like bile in her throat. Would she really have to hack her own family's security system? It was one thing to work around government databases, but this? This could cause loss—money and reputation. How could she even begin to justify this to them? Would she really cause them financial loss just to get to the truth?

The thought of her father’s face, his disappointment, his anger, tore at her. Yet, the image of Brianna in the trees—a child being taken—burned in her mind.

Rose felt trapped, the weight of both sides crushing her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and quickly deleted her trace before shutting everything down.

She was running out of time, and the answers were locked behind her family's gates.

She shut the timer down, it was 3:34 a.m., and with exhaustion clinging to her like a shadow, she dragged herself to bed. Her body ached, her mind raced, but sleep, mercifully, came quickly—until it didn’t.

In her dreams, Brianna’s face appeared, her small voice screaming for help. Rose jolted awake, her body drenched in sweat, heart pounding. 8 a.m. She had just an hour to prepare, to decide if she would go through with this.

She threw herself out of bed, dressing quickly—a black skirt, boots, a black blouse. Her fingers trembled as she tied her hair into a high ponytail, grabbed her gun and badge, adjusting them. Every movement felt rushed, driven by the adrenaline still coursing through her veins.

She forced down the breakfast left outside her door, thankful but too distracted to care whether it was Frank or Raven who had brought it. She swallowed her medication, the familiar taste doing nothing to settle the dread in her stomach.

Her plan formed rapidly in her mind as she hurried out the door. She wouldn’t need to reveal how she had gotten the information. Instead, she would feign innocence—open Brianna's case in her office, "discover" the blur in the footage, and show it to Riley. If she could push him to hack the additional footage himself.

By the time Rose reached the office, her nerves were frayed. Riley was in his office, everyone else scattered. As she passed by Will’s office, she heard Paula’s quiet voice consoling him.

"It's okay, it's okay... he won’t get to you. Your uncle is the one stopping the truth-"

Rose adjusted her collar, her heart sinking. The pressure was getting to all of them—the media frenzy, the scrutiny from high society, the fear rippling through the public. The killer was suffocating them all, and worse, it was tearing this division apart from the inside. Her friends were isolated from the rest of the departments, as if the case itself had tainted them.