Chapter 113: A Silent Farewell

The silence was a living thing, a malevolent presence that had taken up residence in Mario Walton’s phone. For twenty-four hours, it had mocked him. Every outgoing call to Nancy ended in the same hollow, emotionless void of voicemail. Every message, marked with the sterile blue check of ‘Delivered’, remained stubbornly unread. At first, he’d rationalized it. She was busy. Her phone died. She was visiting family and had poor reception. He’d cycled through a dozen plausible excuses,...